Democrat Jon Ossoff finished behind Republican Karen Handel in Georgia’s special House election on Tuesday night, but the real loser could turn out to be House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
While Pelosi is in no immediate danger of losing her House perch, she’s increasingly becoming the face of a period of Democratic stagnation that’s seen a once-mighty majority systematically deteriorate during her tenure.
“I think you’d have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Pelosi at the top,” Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Tex., bluntly told Politico. “Nancy Pelosi is not the only reason that Ossoff lost, but she certainly is one of the reasons.”
As Speaker of the House in 2009, Pelosi presided over a 255-seat majority which was wiped out by the next election, when Democrats fell to 193 seats. In three election cycles since then, Pelosi’s party has netted a single House seat.
Those seeking to be part of the next Democratic majority are already seeking separation from Pelosi.
Democrat Joe Cunningham, running to unseat Republican Mark Sanford in South Carolina, tweeted soon after announcing his candidacy: “If elected, I will not vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker. Time to move forward and win again.”
And those calls are coming from Washington, D.C., too.
The spin being deployed by Pelosi and others in leadership is growing tougher to digest for some in the House.
“It was probably one of the more disturbing caucus meetings that I’ve ever been in,” Rice told Politico. “And everyone pretty much sat in silence, and I’d like to think that they were as shocked as I was that they were hearing the spin that was being put on this loss.”
Isn't she the one who took it to a Jr member recently?
