House Democrats are calling for changes within their own caucus after losing a series of special elections they once hoped would repudiate Donald Trump and the GOP.
The soul-searching includes questions about whether it is time to reconsider Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has served as head of the Democratic caucus since 2003, including four years as Speaker, along with Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who has served as her deputy in the roles of Majority Leader and Minority Whip.
“It seems like the Republicans have been successful in pointing out that voting Democratic… especially in the House, perpetuates the current leadership,” Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., told the Washington Examiner. “They have been using Leader Pelosi just as we have been using Donald Trump.”
Pelosi survived a challenge to her leadership after the 2016 election when Rep. Tim Ryan, of Ohio, ran against her for the top post. Pelosi won, but Ryan picked up 63 of the 197 voting Democrats, nearly a third of the caucus.
Last night’s loss in Georgia’s 6th District after the most expensive race in history has renewed calls for Pelosi’s ouster.
Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat who represents New York’s Nassau County, called for a major shakeup late Wednesday.
“We need leadership change,” Rice, who backed Ryan last year, told CNN. “It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to go, and the entire leadership team.”
While some Democrats are questioning whether it is time to remove their entrenched leadership team, others say Pelosi is not the problem. They point to the rank and file Democrats for not demanding a positive and specific agenda to sell to the voters.
Since Trump’s November victory, Democrats, who are in the minority in both the House and Senate, have pushed a “resistance” theme with voters and have promised to oppose Republican legislation including tax reform and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
“I think the problem is we have not come up with an agenda and then we need a strategy to communicate it,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., said. “We can’t just be against something.”
Pascrell said he stood up in closed-door meeting with Democrats this week and called for “an agenda… and a strategy to communicate it.”
Pascrell has served more than two decades in Congress and supports Pelosi as leader, but he has not withheld his criticism of the party’s current “resistance” strategy.
“I’ve laid out my feelings very, very clearly,” he told the Washington Examiner.
The strategy for Democrats, Pascrell said, should be “based on middle class values, stagnant wages and not hurting the consumer by throwing out all those protections.”
That matches the thinking of Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who said Wednesday morning that Democrats are focusing too much on President Trump’s links to Russia, and not enough on jobs and the economy.
Pascrell said Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have not indicated whether they will draft an official agenda. A Pelosi spokesman did not return a request for a comment on the question.
Pelosi issued a statement about the Georgia race Wednesday afternoon that seemed to urge the Democratic caucus to be more patient.
In her letter, Pelosi said the House majority is in play for Democrats and that her expanded leadership team members “are working on our economic message as we go forward.”
But Rep. Tim Walz, a Democrat representing the southern portion of Minnesota, said Democrats must still find a way to reach out to rural, working class voters who feel abandoned by the party.
“It’s a tough one,” Walz, who is running for governor, said. “It’s a challenge. I would just focus on the authenticity of those candidates and who fits the district well. And they may not be 100 percent with us on every issue. We might have to recognize the nature of the way the country is divided there is going to have to be some middle ground. And I don’t know if we have the capacity to do that.”
