We’ve been reporting for weeks now that Nancy Pelosi’s future as head of the House Democrats is growing increasingly in doubt.
While the Democrat Party is crowing about recent local special election wins — nearly all of which had nothing to do with Trump and the GOP — they’ve been quietly talking about the need for a change in direction given that they cannot seem to win nationally.
This despite Trump’s historically low approval rating and the inability of the Republican Congress to accomplish much of anything.
And they’re now wondering aloud: if we can’t win now, can we win at all?
To wit, a survey was taken among 20 Democrat candidates for House, and only one committed to backing Pelosi.
That’s not a good sign for SanFranNan.
Should Democrats manage to retake the House in ’18, the next Speaker won’t likely be Nancy Pelosi.
Which is actually unfortunate given the entertainment value she provides.
Here’s more from McClatchy…
Nancy Pelosi might actually be in trouble.
In a survey of 20 Democratic House candidates, only one – a former Senate staffer from Orange County, California – would state support for the congresswoman staying on as leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Of the rest, 18 declined to say if Pelosi should keep her job, while one, a political newcomer from a culturally conservative Ohio district, said he would vote for someone other than Pelosi.
Their refusal is a remarkable development for an already embattled minority leader, even if other congressional leaders, like Republicans House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, are similarly unpopular in polls. More significant, however, are the implications that the candidates’ refusal carries for next year’s midterm elections.
Democrats are eager to win a majority buoyed by voters’ disapproval of President Donald Trump. But Pelosi’s own deep unpopularity has proven a major hindrance to Democrats in recent campaigns. After Democrats lost a special election in June, some party insiders blamed Pelosi directly.
“We are overdue for a new generation of leadership,” said Kenneth Harbaugh, a candidate in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, and the only candidate surveyed who was a hard no on voting for Pelosi as leader. “We have a remarkable opportunity in front of us, and it’s going to take new thinking and new leadership to capitalize on it.”
