Some Dems say they’ll back new House leadership

It’s the thorny first question confronting newly elected House Democrats: Will you vote for Nancy Pelosi?

Even before they have taken office, the freshmen swept in by the midterm elections are caught at the center of an escalating power struggle over Pelosi’s future.

The clash intensified Monday as Pelosi’s critics unveiled a letter signed by 16 Democrats, including five freshmen, vowing to oppose her. If that holds, it could be enough to derail her bid. If not, she could reclaim the gavel she once held.

“It’s the question that we got most often,” said Rep.elect Joe Neguse of Colorado, on CBS. He intends to support Pelosi. “You know I think that it’s important that we have steady leadership right now.”

The vote on a new speaker will be among the first cast in the new Congress, a dramatic roll call that often becomes fodder for campaign ads. For many of the Democratic freshmen, it’s a moment of truth after a number of them promised on the campaign trail to oppose Pelosi and demand new leadership.

For now, just five freshmen have signed onto the letter opposing Pelosi. Two of them, Anthony Brindisi in New York and Ben McAdams in Utah, are in races that have not yet been called by The Associated Press.

Other freshmen who have said they would oppose Pelosi did not sign the letter, and the fight for their allegiance is raging behind the scenes.

The showdown is splitting Democrats after they took control of the House in the midterm elections, overshadowing what would be the historic return of the first woman to ever hold the speaker’s office. searches on how to buy an AK-47 or an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, police said.

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The fresco’s details include a depiction of Leda protecting the swan with her cloak as the bird sits on her lap.

Zbigniew Bzdak / TNS Law enforcement officials work near Mercy Hospital on Monday. Multiple people, including a Chicago police officer, were reported shot at the Near South Side hospital. The gunman is dead, but it was not immediately clear if he took his own life or was killed by police.