Lawmakers must work to fill void left by Pelosi
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to step down from House leadership will probably have serious ramifications for the Bay Area and its federal lawmakers.
Over the last 20 years, Pelosi has served as leader of the House Democratic caucus, but she has also “quietly protected the Bay Area,” said retiring Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, who has served with Pelosi for 15 years.
Pelosi made her adoptive home state and its 40-plus-member Democratic delegation a priority, numerous lawmakers told The Chronicle. “No matter what dignitary from whatever nation in the world was here, regardless of all that’s taking place under the dome of the Capitol, Nancy would always come downstairs to the dining room and join” the California Democratic delegation for its weekly lunch, said Pelosi’s close friend Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto.
“In the Bay Area, we’re a very tightly
knit family,” Eshoo said. “We have a great loyalty to one another. We always help each other,” and Pelosi is part of that, she said.
With Pelosi taking a step down from leadership, the rest of the delegation expects they’ll have more to do.
California lawmakers are “going to have to work a lot harder — and I don’t think they know that yet — because she’s done so much behind the scenes,” Speier said.
Pelosi helped the rest of the country learn from the state’s innovative policies and was instrumental in helping expand some of them nationwide, said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland. Pelosi and Lee worked together during COVID-19 relief efforts to direct resources to Black and brown communities, Lee said, “because we knew the disproportionate rates in San Francisco and in my district, and all around the country impacted Black and brown communities.”
Pelosi knew about vaccine reluctance in her district, “and didn’t even blink when it came to” steering funding to trusted messengers, Lee said.
Pelosi was also key to helping Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, pass legislation that invests significant funding in semiconductor research and domestic manufacturing, he said.
Bay Area Democrats will need to join with those from Southern California and use their numbers to protect the state, Speier said, and “work to make sure they don’t forget where the (country’s) economic engine is.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who chairs the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, said she has already spoken with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is running unopposed to replace Pelosi as the head of House Democrats. During their conversation Thursday, Jeffries “wanted me to know that California’s gonna be heard,” she said.
“We still need to work out the details, but I thought it was important that he made a special effort to tag up who we’re going to identify for our major issues,” Lofgren said.
California will still likely see at least one lawmaker in leadership, with Rep. Pete Aguilar, DRedlands (San Bernardino County), running for the No. 3 spot in House Democratic leadership.
“California is the biggest state, we have the largest delegation and when we stick together, which we do when it’s important, you can’t get anything done without us,” Lofgren said.
Having the leader of the House Democrats be in the state’s delegation did help, but it also made things complicated.
“There’s no doubt Nancy has made sure that our caucus was a force within the Congress,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, DSan Rafael. “But in some ways having a speaker from California can complicate the California delegation asserting itself in certain ways because it looks like a California power play.”
“There will be opportunities, perhaps for the California delegation to be quite aggressive in ways that might have had a political backlash under Nancy Pelosi’s speakership,” Huffman said.
Even with her looking out for California, Pelosi made her mission “never seeking more than we deserve, but never accepting less than what is fair to get,” Eshoo said.
With Pelosi staying in Congress as speaker emerita, Californians will still benefit from her experience, authority and respect within the party.
“Everybody in Congress — House and Senate — has got sharp elbows trying to get resources for their area, and she knows all of the levers and how to get things done,” Lofgren said. Pelosi staying in Congress will allow her to share “the vast knowledge that she has accumulated over these years” and help California lawmakers.
“I don’t think she’s going to try to drive any agenda, but I tell you one thing, I’m sure if any of us asked her for advice or what she thought she’s not gonna say, ‘Look, leave me alone.’ She will definitely speak her mind and tell us what she thinks,” Lee said.