Democrats ponder leadership after Cowley loss
WASHINGTON — The stunning primary defeat of New York Rep. Joe Crowley, a 10-term incumbent once seen as a likely replacement for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is forcing Democrats to again address their inner divisions, including questions about who will lead them if they regain control of the House in 2018.
Grumbling about whether Pelosi and other long-serving Democratic leaders should step aside has been getting louder in recent years, with a surprising number of new Democratic candidates saying this year that they would not back the San Francisco Democrat for speaker.
The surprise loss by Crowley, the fourth-ranked Democrat in the House, pushes that debate front and center.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina activist running her first campaign, beat Crowley in Tuesday’s primary in New York’s 14th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and held strong appeal in the minority-majority district.
Election victories by a new generation of progressives like Ocasio-Cortez will increase the pressure on Pelosi and other Democratic leaders, especially if Democrats win the House by a only small margin.
Among other things, these newcomers want Democratic leaders to more aggressively confront President Donald Trump’s policies and openly embrace liberal priorities, like a single-payer health care system. And they are tired of being told to wait patiently — years or even decades — for their turn at the leadership table. “You’re going to have a lot of new members that are very independent and I think they are going to be making good arguments for what kind of leadership they want to see,” said Rep. Reuben Gallego, D-Ariz.
Crowley’s defeat drew comparisons to the surprise 2014 primary loss of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, targeted by GOP tea party advocates as too much a part of the Republican Party’s establishment. Cantor’s ouster triggered deep soulsearching inside the GOP and was followed the next year by the toppling of former House Speaker John Boehner.
“I wouldn’t take anything for granted if I were in leadership now,” said Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky. “I suspect there are going to be challenges to leadership; I don’t think there’s any question.”
Pelosi urged people not to read too much into the loss, saying Ocasio-Cortez was a good fit for a district that had become more progressive.
“Nobody’s district is representative of somebody else’s district,” she said, adding that the outcome is “just a sign of (the) vitality of our party.”
While Pelosi was easily elected as minority leader in 2016, she faced the largest number of defections in her career. It’s unlikely that members will outwardly jockey for position against the powerful leader, who has said she plans to become speaker again. But some would-be rivals are likely to begin lining up support behind the scenes to fill the position Crowley will have to vacate.