HARRISBURG -- Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, was stripped of his title as the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, unable to beat a serious challenge from a group of fellow Democrats to boot him out of the post he's held for two decades.

The caucus voted in Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Monroeville, the House Transportation Committee chairman, to replace Mr. Evans.

In the run up to the vote, the threat was serious enough that the longtime Philadelphia representative had spent the last week calling caucus members to shore up votes. And allies, including Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, also had mounted an aggressive campaign over the weekend to keep Mr. Evans in power.

Mr. Markosek, now the equivalent of minority chairman, will take a backseat to Rep. William Adolph, R-Delaware, who will head the committee and control its agenda.

Tuesday's leadership election in the House Democratic caucus played out behind closed doors, and votes were cast by secret ballot.

Also elected to leadership positions were:

• Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, as minority leader;

• Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Clinton, as minority whip;

• Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, as caucus chairman, beating out Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Philadelphia.

But all eyes were on whether Mr. Evans would survive the challenge.

He was on the outs with some members because they believe he was the master puppeteer behind an edict to try to cancel a House voting session this week in order to prevent a vote on a bill that contains a provision Mr. Evans did not like.

In the end, other House leaders buckled to pressure from members and called them back to vote Monday.