Pelosi defends leadership following special election loss
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended her leadership Thursday in the face of needling from President Donald Trump and grumbling from fellow House Democrats exasperated after a high-profile special election loss.
“So you want me to sing my praises, is that what you’re saying?” the California Democrat remarked dismissively to reporters when asked why she should stay on as leader. “Well, I’m a master legislator. I’m a strategic, politically astute leader. My leadership is recognized by many around the country.”
“That is why I’m able to attract the support that I do, which is essential to our elections, sad to say,” Pelosi added, in a reference to her unparalleled fundraising hauls.
Pelosi’s defensive comments came as Democrats remained angry and divided after throwing some $30 million into a House race in Georgia on Tuesday, only to end up with a loss that wasn’t even very close. Republican Karen Handel beat Democrat Jon Ossoff by around 5 percentage points in the suburban Atlanta district previously represented by Tom Price, now the Health and Human Services secretary.
“I don’t think people in the beltway are realizing just how toxic the Democratic Party brand is in so many parts of the country,” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, of Howland, D-13, said on CNN Wednesday night. Of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi he added, “She’s less popular than Donald Trump in my district.”
Democrats lost another race in South Carolina that same night, and that followed previous disappointments in Montana and Kansas.
All the races were on GOP-friendly terrain. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders insisted that they demonstrated important progress by coming in a close second, and have a good shot at taking back the House in next year’s midterm elections. They must pick up 24 seats to do so.
But some rank-and-file House Democrats scoffed at such explanations and raised questions about Pelosi’s continued leadership.
“If we take back the House in 2018 then I think she’d stay leader,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. “If we don’t, then I think it’s incumbent upon her and all of us to reassess who our leadership should be.”