Pelosi, nominated for speaker, must now get votes

Published 8:13 am Friday, November 30, 2018

WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi isn’t speaker of the House just yet, but her path back to the gavel is now firmly in sight.

Pelosi was overwhelmingly nominated to become House speaker in an internal Democratic caucus vote Wednesday. The final tally, 203-32, puts her within range of the 218 threshold needed in January to be elected speaker when the new Congress convenes.

She’s not quite there. Her actual support is at 200, adjusting for delegates who can’t vote in the full House and one supporter who missed the caucus session.

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But without a challenger and with several weeks to dole out — or withhold — favors, Pelosi is not too far from returning to the speaker’s office.

‘Are there dissenters? Yes,’ the California Democrat told reporters as the ballots were being counted. ‘But I expect to have a powerful vote going forward.’

Pelosi entered the caucus election in an unusual position — running unopposed for the nomination despite the clamor by some Democrats for new leadership. They worry about their re-elections when Pelosi appears as a punchline at President Donald Trump’s rallies and in countless Republican-fueled TV ads against them.

But Pelosi has been deftly picking off opponents — including nine who announced their support Wednesday as voting was underway — a trend she’ll need to accelerate in the weeks ahead.

A deal was reached with the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group whose nine Democratic members were withholding their support as they pushed for rules changes to allow a more open legislative process.

Another group, led by Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio and Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, left the leader’s office empty-handed. They asked Pelosi to publicly release her plans to transition out of leadership before the end of the next term in 2020.  She declined, they said.

‘There has to be some succession plan,’ Rice said.

As House Democrats met in private in the Capitol, they faced a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ choice on Pelosi for speaker.

Those trying to oust Pelosi say they always knew the internal caucus election would fall in her favor. She only needed a simple majority of Democrats, who have a 233-seat majority with several races still undecided, to win the nomination.