Speculation about Nancy Pelosi’s future is consuming Washington.
Will Democrats dump her after the party went 0-4 in the contested special elections?
Nancy Pelosi shocked pundits when she dropped this bombshell about her future.
Pelosi has been leading the Democrats since 2003.
But after Jon Ossoff lost the special election in Georgia’s sixth congressional district – which the GOP’s winning argument was tying him to Pelosi – some Democrats in Congress are worried that argument could also blunt their chances to take back the House in 2018.
So Democrats in Congress are now calling for new leadership.
Real Clear Politics reports:
“Nancy Pelosi was a great speaker. She is a great leader. But her time has come and gone,” Rep. Kathleen Rice told MSNBC on Thursday morning. “There comes a time in every leader’s life that they have to know it’s time to leave and usher in the next generation of leaders.”
The New York lawmaker criticized the silver lining portrayed by Democratic leadership: that candidates in special elections have gained ground since 2016 by cutting into their loss margins. “But we’re still losing. … When are we going to wake up?” Rice said. “I want to win. It is not fun being in Washington when you’re in the minority…
..Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, who represents a district near Youngstown, challenged Pelosi for the minority leader post last year but lost. He has been leading the critique after the special elections, and said his Republican colleagues hope Pelosi stays at the helm.
“There’s a reason why the Republicans are still using it. And when you hear Republicans talk in the gym or running around the House floor, they say, you know, ‘Just keep going the way you’re going because we’re still using this,’” Ryan told CNN Wednesday night, referring to the GOP’s use of Pelosi as a bogeyman in its messaging.
“I had a member of Congress grab me tonight, ‘Please, tell me you’re not going to get rid of Nancy Pelosi; please, tell me she’s not going to retire’ because that’s who I run against,” he said. “She’s less popular than Donald Trump in my district.”
Trump piled on by trolling the Democrats when he sarcastically tweeted he hopes the Democrats keep her in leadership.
I certainly hope the Democrats do not force Nancy P out. That would be very bad for the Republican Party – and please let Cryin' Chuck stay!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
Pelosi had an answer for these calls for her to step aside.
She defiantly claimed she isn’t going anywhere.
CNN reports:
A defiant Nancy Pelosi made it clear she’s not going anywhere, brushing off critics from her own party saying “I think I’m worth the trouble.”
The House minority leader has served as the face of House Democrats since she helped engineer her party regain control of the House of Representatives in 2007 to become the first female speaker. In the face of some fellow Democrats called for her to step down following a major defeat in a special election Tuesday, Pelosi proudly touted her effectiveness, saying she was “a master legislator” and a “strategic, politically astute leader.”
Pelosi revealed the real reason she will stay in power – her ability to raise money.
The New York Times reports:
“Ms. Pelosi, boasting that she was “the biggest fund-raiser in the country” still in office, dismissed suggestions that her time had passed. And she could not help but note that her critics did not mind benefiting from her financial prowess.
“You know what? I want them to win. I want them to win,” she said of those who want her fund-raising help but would just as soon avoid being photographed with her. “If I were bothered by that, I wouldn’t be raising the money. What is curious to me is people say, ‘Raise us all the money and then step aside.’ It’s like, what?”
The Democrats have suffered humiliating losses in the 2004, 2010, 2014 and 2016 elections under her watch, but her fundraising prowess plies Democrats into continually voting for her to remain in power.
But with Pelosi remaining in power, will it lead to more Democrat losses in 2018?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
