Pelosi secures votes to return as Speaker
WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Pelosi clinched the votes for a second stint as House speaker on Wednesday after agreeing to serve no more than four years in a deal with a group of Democratic rebels – a significant concession to their demands for generational change.
The group of insurgents wanted new blood in the top Democratic ranks and maneuvered for months to deny Pelosi, D-Calif., the votes she would need to trigger a shakeup. After weeks of behindthe-scenes negotiating, Pelosi backed off her resistance to setting a date for her departure but avoided becoming an immediate lame duck.
“Over the summer, I made it clear that I see myself as a bridge to the next generation of leaders, a recognition of my continuing responsibility to mentor and advance new members into positions of power and responsibility in the House Democratic Caucus,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Almost immediately, seven Democratic holdouts said they would back Pelosi. Their support would be enough to secure the House majority that she needs for her election to speaker on Jan. 3 – 218 votes if all members are present and voting for an individual.
According to a Washington Post analysis, that would leave
Pelosi with no more 16 Democrats openly opposing her. She could weather as many as 17 defections if all members are voting.
Already the first woman to serve as speaker, Pelosi would cement her place in history by joining a small group of lawmakers who regained the speakership after losing it. She would be the first speaker to do so since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn took the gavel back in 1955. No other two-time speaker has reclaimed the gavel after more than four years out of power.
The deal with the rebels was a capstone to a remarkable 48 hours for Pelosi, who sparred with President Donald Trump on Tuesday at the White House over his demand for U.S.-Mexico border wall funding. She challenged the Republican president and explained the legislative process to him - a clash that highlighted the stakes of the speakership race and Pelosi’s bid to be the most powerful woman in American politics.
Hours after the White House session, she hashed out the final terms of the deal in her Capitol Hill office with Democratic Reps. Bill Foster of Illinois, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado and Linda Sánchez of California. Over the following day, those members relayed the deal back to fellow colleagues opposing Pelosi and honed the final announcement
Besides those three members, Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Filemon Vela, D-Texas, as well as Rep.-elect Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., said Wednesday that they would back Pelosi.
“We are proud that our agreement will make lasting institutional change that will strengthen our caucus and will help develop the next generation of Democratic leaders,” they said in a joint statement. “We will support and vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House in the 116th Congress.” Under the accord, Pelosi, 78, will back a three-term limit for the top four House Democratic leaders, with a possible fourth term if Democratic members vote by a two-thirds majority to retain them.
The limit would be retroactive, meaning Pelosi, incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., incoming House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. - all of whom held the same posts from 2007 to 2011 - would be effectively limited to one, maybe two, terms going forward if the policy is adopted. The term limit would also apply to Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, who is poised to assume the No. 4 job.