House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is not ready to give up her power despite calls by some of her Democratic colleagues who say new leadership is needed following the recent losses in House special elections in Georgia and South Carolina, where Republicans Karen Handel and Ralph Norman won, respectively.
“I think I’m worth the trouble,” Pelosi said at her weekly briefing with reporters on Thursday at the Capitol. “I am a master legislator.”
“I am a strategic politically astute leader,” Pelosi said. “My leadership is recognized by many around the country and that is why I am able to attract the support that I do, which is essential to our election, sad to say.”
Pelosi has led her party in the House since 2003, “overseeing losses in 2004, big gains in 2006 and 2008, then watching as her party slipped into its smallest minority in nearly a century,” the Washington Times reported.
Despite losing a total of four elections this year–Kansas, Montana, Georgia, and South Carolina–Pelosi has said those elections “would normally not have been priorities for her party,” according to the Times. “But she said they made big gains anyway, reducing their margin of loss from as much as 20 percentage points in previous elections down to less than 5 points this time.”
Pelosi blamed the shooting of Republican lawmakers and staff at a baseball practice by a left-wing Bernie Sanders supporter right before the election for Democrat Jon Ossoff’s loss in Georgia, citing attack ads demonizing Democrats for political violence.
“I feel very confident in the support I have in the caucus,” Pelosi said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.