Democrat members of the House of Representatives are disappointed that current House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi didn’t deliver on her promise to expand their majority. This mistake could cost the California lawmaker her longstanding position as Speaker of the House.
The Democrat Party lost seats in the chamber, and a number of party members who barely managed to get re-elected have publicly pledged that they would not support Rep. Pelosi for House Speaker in the coming year. To complicate matters, the ranks of far-left party members in the House have grown — and they too would be more than happy to find someone else for the job.
The current favorite is Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, one of Rep. Pelosi’s top lieutenants and a fairly moderate lawmaker who can bridge the divide with progressives. Rep. Jeffries has publicly said he isn’t after Rep. Pelosi’s job, but his tune may change if enough Democrat lawmakers come out to support him for the position.
“He’s the only one prepared and positioned. He bridges moderates and progressives better than anyone. And most importantly, he’s not Nancy Pelosi,” an anonymous House Democrat told the New York Post.
While House members have made no secret of their plan to find an alternative, Pelosi has busied herself giving interviews on TV. She says her party has a “mandate” to govern, even though they haven’t won a majority in the Senate, lost seats in the House, and their claims to the presidency are tenuous as many Americans doubt the validity of vote counts.
The Speaker has also launched a formal bid to keep her position, and there are odds she may indeed be able to fend off potential challengers. She managed to do so in 2018 when far-left progressives and moderate Democrats expressed wariness but ultimately supported her bid. However, things could be different this time around.
The loss of Democrat seats in the House of Representatives is no small matter. In 2016, President Donald Trump won both houses of Congress along with the presidency. In 2008, Barack Obama did the same. Such an outcome allows a President to spent at least the first two years shaping policy and fulfilling important promises to voters. While the outcome of the presidential election is far from clear, the results for House and Senate races show that the American public isn’t interested in a far-left socialist agenda.
Pelosi may be unwilling to face the fact that her party is heading in the wrong direction, but many moderates who actually spend time with their constituents are making it clear that the Democrat Party needs to get back to the basics. For many, the easy solution is getting rid of Pelosi.
