Pelosi Set To Be Reelected Speaker Despite House Losses

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Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., broke barriers when she was the first woman elected speaker of the House in 2007. Democrats lost the majority in 2011, but she regained the gavel in 2019 when Democrats ousted the GOP in the 2018 midterms.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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Other top party leaders — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. — who are 80 and 81 — are also running unopposed. House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries does also not face any competition for his post as the fifth-ranking leader.

Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who ran the House Democrats’ campaign arm, said she would not run for another term, and two Democrats — Rep. Tony Cardenas of California and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York — are vying for the position that will be decided later this month.

Unexpected losses

Top leaders and political analysts forecasted that Democrats would expand their majority — potentially picking up as many as 15 seats — but the disappointing results sparked a blame game inside the Democratic caucus that has increased tensions about policy priorities going forward.

Moderates who were ousted or won only very narrowly say progressives who pressed to «defund the police» or advocated for sweeping policies like the Green New Deal gave GOP opponents an opening by taking the party off message when voters were concerned about the economy or the coronavirus. Progressives, on the other hand, have argued their message drove turnout among young voters and people of color.

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Pelosi has downplayed the GOP gains, pointing out that Democrats flipped 40 seats in the 2018 midterms — a figure that meant they had more incumbents to protect this year. She also claimed that Democrats deserve credit for boosting turnout in key swing states, helping the Biden-Harris ticket ultimately win those states.

The speaker circulated a letter on Monday urging unity among Democrats, saying that «President-elect Biden’s message and mandate as a unifier have given the American people hope.»

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Managing factions

When Pelosi was reelected two years ago, she agreed to limit herself to two terms as speaker, but the caucus never formally adopted rules to lock in the term limit for the speaker or other top leadership positions.

She did move to expand the slots on the leadership ladder as a way of responding to sentiment inside the caucus that she held on too tightly to power and had not given more opportunities for newer members to gain valuable experience. The caucus will vote on some contested races for those lower-level leadership jobs on Thursday.

Jeffries, 50, asked about the prospects to potentially some other members for leadership posts in the future, said the current team has a «tremendous mix of experience.» The New York Democrat, who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pelosi, called her «a legendary speaker, one of the best who has ever done it – ever in the history of the republic. She certainly has my strong support.»

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Pelosi will need to manage various ideological factions inside her caucus who already have different priorities for next year, when the party will have a Democrat in the White House. Progressive hopes for broad climate change legislation and significant expansion for health care coverage will face challenges. The California Democrat has negotiated those differences before and brushed off questions last week from reporter pressing her if she would need to modify her approach to legislation.

«Not at all,» Pelosi insisted. She added that «our leverage and our power is greatly enhanced by having a Democratic president in the White House, especially Joe Biden.»

House Republicans held their leadership elections on Tuesday and reelected the same slate of leaders to the top posts: Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California will be House minority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana will serve as minority whip and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming will remain House GOP Conference chair.

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