Pelosi secures nomination to lead Dems amid narrow majority

[George II]

Source: Politico

Speaker Nancy Pelosi secured her caucus’ nomination for another term leading the House on Wednesday as Democrats kicked off their multiday leadership elections for the new Congress.

Pelosi is running unopposed and only needed a simple majority of the Democratic Caucus during the secret ballot vote. But she’ll still have to clinch 218 votes on the House floor in January to officially become speaker — and she has a much narrower majority to work with this time around after Democrats lost more than half a dozen seats on Election Day.

Democrats will also nominate House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) for new terms — cementing the trio that has ruled the caucus for the last 14 years.

The appointment of the upper ranks of Democratic leadership hasn’t been without some private grumbling, particularly after the caucus’ unexpected string of losses on Nov. 3 shrunk its majority to its smallest in two decades. The slim majority could pose limits on Pelosi's and President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, and raises concerns among Democrats about keeping control of the House in 2022.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/nancy-pelosi-house-speaker-second-term-437119

[LakeArenal]

1. Good. We don't need to change what works.

[RKP5637]

2. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[FarPoint]

8. Exactly....

She has been amazing!

[still_one]

3. No surprise

[still_one]

4. I am still upset that those who "rigged" the election for us forgot about the House and Senate

[whopis01]

6. Seriously - we need to cut back on their bribes if they aren't going to perform. n/t

[still_one]

7. Yes, just wait tell they get their job performance review

[Budi]

5. K & R

[Polybius]

9. Is the title slightly misleading?

It says:

"But she’ll still have to clinch 218 votes on the House floor in January to officially become speaker — and she has a much narrower majority to work with this time around after Democrats lost more than half a dozen seats on Election Day."

So is it set in stone or no?

[George II]

12. She has the Democratic nomination. The republicans will put up a nominee, too, and then....

...the entire House will vote. Barring any games like 2 years ago, she should be elected Speaker.

[OilemFirchen]

10. "... shrunk its majority to its smallest in two decades."

The House was Republican-controlled for one of those decades.

Probably just typical Politico abysmal writing, but JFC anyway.

[luv2fly]

11. I hope to hell these three are mentoring our younger generation

They aren't going to be in politics forever, and we need to know decisively who the next generations political leaders are going to be.

[Hekate]

25. I'm sure they are. But the younger ones who come bouncing in have to recognize that they need it...

Right?

Last time around there was such a flap over the newbies who were convinced that they had all the answers on Day One and that all they had to do was to get appointed to power positions and snap their fingers.

[DeminPennswoods]

13. It's impressive Dems lost only 6 seats in a year

when Rs came out from under every rock to vote for Trump and down ballot R.

[jimfields33]

15. 6? I think it's 10 with 3 pick ups. And around 10 still counting.

[DeminPennswoods]

19. Just going off what was in the link

nt

[jimfields33]

20. Cool. Thank you!!!!

[Kingofalldems]

21. They picked up 6 seats net gain, not 10.

Please use the correct information.

[Polybius]

30. It's weird that some sites say different things

If you search for "house election results 2020" on Goggle, the first thing that pops up us the AP results, and they list Republicans as net +8. However, NY Times says net +6, as you said. I think it's because a few news organizations called certain races, while others haven't, such as Utah where Burgess Owens "won."

[George II]

24. It's currently a net loss of 8. As of now, it's 219 to 205 with 11 to be called. Of those 11....

Democrats are ahead by >1% in 3
republicans are ahead by >1% in 6

Two are very close (0.13% and 0.01%) and there's also a runoff between two republicans in Louisiana (included in the 205).

If the 11 remaining go the way they are and we split the two very close races, the tally will be 223 to 212. Democrats will lose 10 seats, only 2.2% of the entire House and less than one quarter of the seats Democrats gained in 2018.

Considering that we won the Presidency and so far have gained one seat in the Senate (and possibly one or two more), November 3 turned out pretty good and wasn't the catastrophe that some would think.

[Demsrule86]

31. Nope. It is six. Some contested seats went our way. We are at 221.

[Celerity]

29. It will end up being around a net loss of 18 to 19 or so compared

to the 241 seats we had post 2018 midterms. 222ish atm is the way it is tracking.

[jonstl08]

14. She needs to groom somebody to replace her

I think she has been an effective House Speaker but hope they are grooming somebody to take over when she leaves. Maybe somebody younger than what is in current leadership.

[Karma13612]

16. I agree.

We certainly need to start filling some of the higher positions (?Leadership??) with younger progressives so we can keep moving in that direction.
Not hot heads, but those that are solid and not swayed when things get tough.

Nancy knows how to keep people in line with great finesse.

[George II]

18. Hakeem Jeffries is only 50 years old.

[Hekate]

28. "Effective"? She's been one of the best in history. As for "grooming," I think mostly they need to

... pay attention to what she does and how she does it. When observers say “Pelosi can count votes,” that’s a nod to a notable skill — she’s known for getting bills passed. She’s not known for putting up bills that are guaranteed to fail just to fill someone’s ego-needs.

[melman]

17. Politico

Interesting.

[George II]

22. Yes, and yes.

[2Legit]

23. Despite some grousing within the party, they all recognize that NDP did her job handling the current

Occupant in a way that I don't think that any of the others could. For that, she is being rewarded. Personally, I could not imagine anyone else being Speaker while she is still in the House. Plus, they needed to send a message to the Occupant. He's out and his arch nemesis is still there.

[ffr]

26. I support her 100%

Whomever succeeds her will need to be ballsy like her too.

[Miigwech]

27. Nancy is the one! She has stood up to the worst of the worst

and is still standing tall ............ a true leader! Go get'um Nancy!!!! We support you 100%