Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is confident that she will retain her role as Speaker of the House despite high profile defections from progressives and a razor-thin margin, according to an interview she had with reporters late Monday night.
“‘You have a big vote Sunday night for speaker. You think have got that wrapped up?’ a reporter on Capitol Hill Monday asked the House Speaker of the January 3 election, ‘Yeah, I do,’ Pelosi said,” according to the Daily Mail.
“‘You have some thin margins this time around,’ the reporter pointed out,” according to the outlet. “‘That’s fine,’ she said, adding she isn’t concerned about the coronavirus pandemic impacting her chances at reelection for House leader of her party.”
Pelosi, though, seemed to have a different approach during a private phone call with her caucus, telling them that it was of utmost importance that House Democrats show up for the speakership vote, despite concerns about the novel coronavirus and disagreements between the body’s progressives and moderates.
“We need people to vote with the nominee. That would be me,'” she said, according to sources. She later added that any vote for a different candidate was effectively a vote with Republicans against Democratic leadership.
Progressives appear to be planning if not a quiet revolution then a protest vote. Incoming Democratic freshmen Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, both new members of the so-called “Squad,” have been mum on whether they plan to vote for Pelosi to retain her leadership position, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing pressure from the far left to extract concessions from Pelosi in exchange for a return to power.
Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter last week that she has been negotiating with the current Speaker, but that a vote on Medicare for All — the concession favored by progressive commentators — is off the table, particularly given that a majority of Democratic legislators, as well as the likely incoming president, Joe Biden, have no interest in seeing a Medicare for All-type system passed.
Biden did not offer support for the measure on the campaign trail and, given that he participated actively in passing the Affordable Care Act, is more likely to champion health care reform rather than a true overhaul.
Ocasio-Cortez also told the Intercept that Pelosi is, essentially, a familiar enemy. Voting her out of office could usher in a more difficult situation for progressives who lack clout in the House of Representatives.
“How do we fill that vacuum? Because if you create that vacuum, there are so many nefarious forces at play to fill that vacuum with something even worse,” she said.
Pelosi is in a precarious position. Although she’s been Speaker on and off during several administrations, a promised Democratic “blue wave” in the 2020 elections failed to materialize. Although Democrats likely captured the White House, they lost many state-level and down-ticket races, putting the party in a precarious position going into the mid-year elections and leaving them with just a razor-thin margin in the House and battling for the life in the Senate.
In order to ensure that any of a President Biden policy agenda passes, Democrats must win both races in a special runoff election taking place next week in Georgia.