Democrats on Wednesday were starting to questioning the viability of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after the party’s loss in the Georgia special election, raising new questions about whether she could face another challenger.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., spent more than $7 million on the campaign in Georgia aimed at tying Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff with Pelosi, D-Calif.
Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., called for a leadership change in an interview with CNN Wednesday.
“We need leadership change,” said Rice, who backed Rep. Tim Ryan’s challenge to Pelosi’s leadership last year. “It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to go, and the entire leadership team.”
But Pelosi, the Democratic leader since 2003 and the most prolific non-presidential political fundraiser in U.S. history, is also losing support from members who stayed with her in November.
“I think you’d have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Pelosi at the top,” Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas, who supported Pelosi in her last leadership race, told Politico. “Nancy Pelosi is not the only reason that Ossoff lost. But she certainly is one of the reasons.”
