Pelosi shows power with leadership win
BY MIKE LILLIS - 11/30/16 08:13 PM EST 4,373
© Greg Nash
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) secured another term as Democratic leader on Wednesday, beating back a rare challenge, from Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), in a 134-63 vote.
Pelosi’s victory shows that while there’s an appetite for changes to the party’s leadership structure and messaging tactics, it’s not strong enough to loosen her grip on a liberal-heavy caucus that has seldom questioned her authority.
While Pelosi was widely expected to triumph, there was a great deal of uncertainty about both the margin of victory and how it might influence her clout within the caucus.
The result met her own prediction that she’d receive “more than two-thirds” of the caucus’s support, and Pelosi said afterward that she was “exhilarated … by the strong vote.”
Her critics, however, took a decidedly different view, noting that Ryan’s 63 votes marked a sharp jump above the support given to her last challenger, former Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), who lost to Pelosi 43-150 in 2010.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a Ryan backer, said the groundswell of support for Ryan sent a clear message that rank-and-file members are yearning for more influence.
“This Democratic caucus wants to be more involved, [and] it wants to have a member-driven caucus, not a leadership-driven caucus,” he said.
Ryan, speaking to reporters after the vote, echoed that sentiment.
“It sends a message that a lot of people felt like maybe they weren’t getting heard,” Ryan said. “Now, they think there’s a much better chance that they will. I think more people are inclined to speak out now.”
The Democrats will soon have a chance to test that theory because party leaders have set a debate for Thursday morning on a series of changes for the caucus.
Among the reforms that the restive lawmakers are urging is a proposal to make the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) an elected position rather than an appointment from the top — a change Pelosi has resisted.
Ryan and his supporters had argued that the Democrats’ grim performance in this year’s elections — part of a string of cycles in which Republicans have stayed firmly in the majority — was a clear signal that Pelosi’s leadership strategy has failed to attract the broad coalition of voters required to win back House control.
Lamenting Pelosi’s victory, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) said Democrats had “decided to double down on their failed strategy of recent years.”
“This should be a time of critical reflection and clear-eyed change, not a time to rubber stamp the failed strategy of the past,” she said.
The critics accused the party of alienating the middle class, prompting Rust Belt workers to flock to President-elect Donald Trump and securing victories for a long list of vulnerable Republicans down the ballot. Ryan, who represents an Ohio district with manufacturing interests that has struggled to keep pace with globalization, said he was the right fit to make inroads with those voters.
Most Democrats disagreed, opting to keep Pelosi and her top lieutenants — Reps. Steny Hoyer (Md.) and James Clyburn (S.C.) — in charge heading into the 2018 midterm elections.
Pelosi vowed to put the fight behind her in an effort to unify the Democrats for the sake of defending President Obama’s legislative legacy from the incoming Trump administration and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
“I look forward to working with all of our colleagues from the beautiful diversity of our caucus to put forth a message that does connect with the American people,” she told reporters after the vote.
Rust Belt Democrats say part of that unification will necessarily require party leaders to renew their focus on the middle-of-the-country voters who have shifted steadily toward the Republicans in recent years. Emerging from Wednesday’s vote, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) urged Democrats to abandon their “coastal myopia” and “embrace the industrial heartland.”
“We have to reboot. … When Hillary Clinton came to my hometown of Toledo, Ohio, and stood at the busiest Amtrak terminal in Ohio, she did not speak about her infrastructure bill, she talked about Warren Buffett, who most people don’t even know who he is,” Kaptur said. “I was dumbfounded.”
While Kaptur is urging more regional diversity in the Democrats’ leadership ranks, she voted for Pelosi over her home-state colleague. Asked why, Kaptur didn’t hesitate.
“Because he didn’t ask,” she said. “You know how I found out that he was running? And this is the truth: I walked out of the caucus meeting a couple weeks ago and about five press people surrounded me and said, ‘Are you supporting Tim Ryan?’ And I said, ‘For what?’ ”
Asked whether she would have backed Ryan if he had approached her first, Kaptur said, “I would have considered it.”
Cristina Marcos contributed.
Posts
