Rep. Gil Cisneros is running for the top Democratic slot on the House Small Business Committee, he announced Wednesday, launching a bid to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who held the position for nearly three decades.
Velázquez said in November that she was retiring from office because it was time for “a new generation of leaders to step forward.” The New York congresswoman has served as the top Democrat on the committee since 1998.
“We are experiencing a period of instability and economic uncertainty spurred by a self-motivated President who doesn’t care about Americans’ financial situation,” Cisneros wrote in a Dear Colleague letter, first shared with The Washington Sun. “Now is the time for a focused, aggressive, and forward-looking strategy that puts our small businesses first.”
The California congressman is the first Democrat to officially throw his hat in the ring for the position. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas is considering running for the position as well, according to a person familiar with her thinking. Punchbowl News first reported that Davids was eyeing a run.
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Davids is currently not a member of the Small Business Committee, so it’s unclear if she would need to get permission from the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in order to participate. According to the House Democratic Caucus rules, only committee members can run for chair. She served on the Small Business Committee from 2019 to 2025.
“It’s new that people who aren’t even on the committee [are] running to chair it,” one Steering Committee member told The Sun, though others have jumped to leader roles from other panels before.
With House Democrats hoping to win the majority in November, Cisneros told The Sun the Small Business Committee needed to increase its oversight of the Trump administration.
“We’ve only had the [Small Business Administration] administrator come and testify one time over the last two years,” Cisneros said. “This whole committee this whole time has just been really just a pat on the back to the Trump administration, right? When, at the same time, all we’re hearing is that the instability is causing chaos among small businesses.”
Cisneros, who was a small business owner, said that as chair of the committee, he’d like to have more hearings with SBA officials.
“We want to question them all. We want them to come to explain themselves and try and justify decisions that they’re making, ” Cisneros added. “None of that is happening right now.”
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