House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., threw cold water on a petition by a handful of Democrats calling for a rule change that would require a candidate for speaker to secure a majority of the House in the party’s private caucus vote.
When Democrats choose a speaker or minority leader after the election, they’ll hold a private caucus vote before a floor vote at the start of the new Congress. Right now, whoever runs for speaker or leader only has to nail down a majority of the Democratic caucus and then a majority of the House on the floor. A number of Democrats, mainly those opposed to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s ongoing reign, are trying to change that threshold.
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