Report: Nancy Pelosi Loses ‘Iron Fist’ Grip on Democrat Caucus 

The House Democrats’ caucus elections went forward on Tuesday without Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) looming influence on Capitol Hill.

Pelosi, 84, who was out of the country receiving medical treatment after falling during a congressional trip in Germany, lost her “iron first” grip on House Democrats, Axios reported Wednesday. Her political career, like President Joe Biden’s, seems to be sunsetting.

Several House Democrats who Pelosi reportedly preferred as ranking members on committees did not succeed, such as Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), who lost to Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) for the top spot on the Agriculture Committee.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), supported by Pelosi, soundly defeated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for Oversight Committee ranking member, but Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) said Pelosi’s support for Connolly was not a factor.

“I don’t think it was a factor,” he told Axios. “I mean, it’s a good factor when anybody plays a role. But look, you heard Steny [Hoyer (D-MD)] in another race say that the speaker emerita was [supporting Costa], and that was a different result.”

Axios reported on Pelosi’s diminished power on Capitol Hill to conduct a whip operation:

• “As one of her strong supporters, she never said anything to me,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), positing that there were “some overstatements about … this theory [that] she had to have her hands in some of this.”
• Said a senior House Democrat: “I did not have a conversation with the former speaker at all, and … if she was a part of it, I wasn’t aware of it.”
• Another senior House Democrat told Axios they “didn’t hear about any calls,” and, noting Pelosi’s hip replacement surgery, said that “of course she was not in much of a position to make calls the last week.”

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.