Nancy Pelosi could be Speaker of the House again. The die-hard San Francisco leftist, who presided over record deficits, forced through Obamacare over Republican objections, and centralized power in the Speaker’s office, could reclaim the gavel.
That’s a prospect the Republican Party is using to urge wary voters to go to the polls in November, especially those who are dissatisfied with the choice of Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate. Though polls are tightening in many swing states, and some national polls even show Trump ahead of rival Hillary Clinton, the Republican nominee is seen as a drag on the ticket in several areas of the country where he remains unpopular, and where incumbents are facing strong challengers.
The San Francisco Chronicle notes that Republicans are facing tough races in the San Joaquin Valley and in San Diego, where Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is facing a tough race for the first time in recent memory. Other seats in jeopardy include Illinois’ 10th district, where moderate Republican Bob Dold took his seat back in 2014 and has been running against Trump ever since to make sure he keeps it.
Democrats need 30 seats to retake the majority — and they may have half of that already.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about a potential Pelosi restoration is that she is still around at all. After leading her party to a historic defeat against the Tea Party wave in 2010. Pelosi refused to resign as her party’s leader in the House. Instead, she crushed internal dissent and re-committed herself to hard-left policies that the public had proven to reject but still appealed to the party base. The party participated, for example, in a sit-in on the floor of the House earlier this year that was ostensibly aimed at supporting gun control, but which was used as a fundraising tool and broke House ethics rules.
The Chronicle notes that the GOP may run ads targeting Pelosi in districts facing the greatest threat — especially if a Clinton landslide looms.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.