For 17 years Nancy Pelosi had led the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Pelosi’s time running the show may be coming to an end.
And Nancy Pelosi made this one mistake that could end her career.
The House of Representatives will hold an election on January 3, 2021 to determine the Speaker of the House.
To win the Speaker’s gavel a candidate must win a majority of the members present.
But with the Democrats holding just 222 seats Nancy Pelosi has no margin for error.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy explained the tightrope Pelosi must walk.
“15 Democrats voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker last time. 10 of them are coming back. If those 10 Democrats vote against her again—she will no longer be Speaker of the House,” McCarthy posted on Twitter.
Already three of those Democrats pledged to vote against Pelosi in the election.
Representatives Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, Jared Golden of Maine, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan all are on record as “no” votes in the Speaker’s race.
Two other freshmen Democrats who are set to join Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar’s “Squad”—Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman—refused to commit to supporting Pelosi for Speaker of the House in an interview on fake news CNN.
“I am going to make sure that voices of the people of St. Louis are heard and we have what we need. And so you will find out then,” Bush declared.
Bowman told CNN that everyone “will find out when my vote is tallied and, again, [I will be] organizing with our community to figure out what’s best.”
But Pelosi has another crisis on her hands of her own making.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Pelosi instituted a policy of letting members vote remotely or by proxy.
That expires on December 31 so now members must be present to vote for Speaker.
And now Democrats are worried that if any members come down with coronavirus and can’t show up, that will hand Republicans enough votes to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
“COVID is a wild card,” Democrat Congressman Hank Johnson explained in an interview with The Hill. “If we have sick members who cannot come back, and we only have a four-vote majority, it throws our entire advent of the 117th Congress in peril — a smooth advent.”
“Let’s say, just theoretically, we had six or eight people out with COVID and the Republicans have none. They probably could elect McCarthy,” Kentucky Democrat Congressman John Yarmuth also told The Hill.
If Pelosi loses the Speaker’s election it is hard to see her sticking around in the wake of a massive humiliation.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated it is time for the Democrat Party to elect new leaders.
A coronavirus surprise outbreak could accelerate those conversations.
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