Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has resigned herself to her fate — whatever that fate may be.
Asked about the growing number of candidates with backing from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who vow to oppose her for speaker if Democrats retake the house, Pelosi admitted that she may be sowing the seeds of her own destruction.
“We just want to win, that’s the simplest answer of all,” Pelosi shot back before throwing shade at those DCCC candidates. “When I’m not in the Capitol and in some place else, I’m raising money to elect those very people.”
A growing chorus has begun calling for Pelosi to step aside. After 15 years, two stints as minority leader, and one as speaker, they argue that the party is better off without her. All of this puts the party in an awkward spot. They need to pick up 23 seats to flip the House and that means they have to support candidates already pledging to show Pelosi the door.
It’s more than a couple rabble-rousers, too. Candidates in must-win races are in revolt including, Politico reported, 11 of the top-tier stallion candidates in the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” program. Each is following the example of newly-elected Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., who won a special election in large part by disparaging Pelosi publicly in Trump country.
When accused of being a stooge for Pelosi, Lamb would shoot back that he “already said on the front page of the newspaper that I don’t support Nancy Pelosi.”
And that’s got to hurt. For now, Pelosi is putting that behind her and putting in the work — even though it might be the end of her.
