Aides to under-fire Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are reportedly sending out suggested tweets to support her. They have pushed the hashtag #StandWithNancy — suggesting that Pelosi is concerned about a leadership challenge in the wake of the devastating defeat in Georgia this week.
The Democrats were hit by a massive blow to the party Tuesday when Democrat Jon Ossoff lost the Georgia special election to Karen Handel, despite tens of millions of donations and celebrity backing. Democrats had pushed the narrative that the vote was a referendum on Trump’s presidency.
As Democrats lick their wounds in the wake of the defeat, eyes quickly turned to Pelosi, with some Democrats openly calling for a change in leadership as they fear Pelosi is bad for their brand.
Rep. Tim Ryan (R-OH), who challenged Pelosi for the leadership last year, said on CNN: “The brand is just bad.”
“I don’t think people in the beltway are realizing just how toxic the Democratic Party brand is in so many parts of the country,” he said before pointing to Pelosi as one of the causes for that.
“We need leadership change,” Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) told CNN. “It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to go, and the entire leadership team.”
Pelosi defended herself Thursday, calling herself a “master legislator.”
“Well, I am a master legislator. I am a strategic politically astute leader. 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,” she said.
Now it seems the master legislator may have a new strategy — drumming up social media support and creating kicky hashtags.
The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported late Thursday that aides to Pelosi had sent around suggested tweets, reminding people of Pelosi’s role getting ObamaCare passed through the House — just as Republicans were unveiling their health care bill — and attempting to make the hashtag #StandWithNancy go viral.
The push for #StandWithNancy seemed to be having limited success as of Friday morning. Former Clinton campaign spokeswoman Karen Finney was among those tweeting out supportive messages of Pelosi — although it wasn’t clear how many were inspired by the tweets sent around from the California Democrat’s office.
Meanwhile, Pelosi’s office retweeted a number of tweets that included a snazzy graphic featuring Pelosi and the hashtag.
Haberman noted when tweeting the list: “This is an unusual thing to do if you are indeed unconcerned about a challenge.”
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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