What’s Pelosi’s response to taking a beating in the House? Double down. And then double down some more.
“I take credit for winning a majority and holding the House,” the California Democrat said when CNN asked if she took any responsibility for losing seats.
Pelosi’s leadership team had expected to pad their majority in the House, which is split between 233 Democrats and 201 Republicans, along with one independent. But Democrats, particularly in districts that President Donald Trump carried in 2016, lost in races across the country, meaning Pelosi will likely have one the fewest seats of any Democratic majority since the end of World War II.
With 13 seats uncalled so far, Democrats are poised to hold at least 219 seats, compared to 203 for Republicans…
That’s quite a win.
“A few more such victories,” as the British said after Bunker Hill.
This was the map that was supposed to enable a blue wave. The news looks much worse in 2022. And unless the Democrats can keep the pandemic and mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting going nationwide, it doesn’t bode well. And considering how badly they performed even with harvesting and a pandemic, it’s bad.
Unless they can somehow head off redistricting, it’s getting worse.
There’s a reason that House Democrats are sharpening their knives for Pelosi. While Pelosi acts like everything is fine.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will enter January with a narrower Democratic majority, but she contended Friday that fewer seats will not force her to change her strategy.
“No, not at all,” she told reporters when asked if her party’s expected loss of at least six House districts in the 2020 election will force her to compromise more. “We have a president of the United States.”
Pelosi insisted “our leverage and power is greatly enhanced” by the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, who will choose whether to sign bills into law.
As long as those bills get past the Senate. And that will doubtless happen, but Mitch McConnell has shown patience before and with his race won, he’s got little on the line. The only Democrat strategy for breaking through in a Republican Senate is to either bet it all on Georgia or accuse Senate Republicans of killing people by refusing to pass their latest corrupt power grab.
But Democrats already made all those arguments and they didn’t seem to do much good in legislative elections. Pelosi doesn’t have much to work with here. And if Democrats decide to bring her back, her term as Speaker is likely to be cut short by the midterm elections. If she had any sense, she would have stepped down before this. Instead she’s committed to running again.
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