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Nancy Pelosi Says She Has the Votes to Become House Speaker As Pelosi Pushes to Become Speaker, Gender Debate Becomes Charged
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Representative Nancy Pelosi asserted Thursday that she has enough support among her colleagues to become the next speaker of the House, as the first hint of opposition emerged from an Ohio Democrat, Representative Marcia Fudge, who said she is considering a run. WASHINGTON — The fight over Representative Nancy Pelosi’s quest for the speaker’s gavel has become charged with the delicate and timely issue of gender, as Democrats wrestle with the importance of keeping a woman in the top job after a “pink wave” delivered the party back to the majority.
“Come on in, the water’s warm,” Ms. Pelosi said, dismissing the notion that Ms. Fudge was a threat. Asked if she had the 218 votes necessary to win the speakership, she said emphatically, “Yes.” As Ms. Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, insisted on Thursday that she had enough support for the speakership, some of her newly elected female colleagues dismissed the notion that it was paramount to have a woman at the top. And some of her male critics — mindful of the optics of dumping the highest-ranking woman in American political history — began floating the names of other women to replace her.
Ms. Pelosi is an exceptionally skilled politician, and many Democrats say she remains the odds-on favorite to return to the post in January. Her comments came as the fight over whether she should be speaker is heating up among her colleagues, exposing deep divisions over the role of gender in leadership at a time when a so-called pink wave put the party back in the House majority. “There’s plenty of really competent females that we can replace her with,” Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, one of Ms. Pelosi’s leading critics, told reporters on Wednesday, listing the names of several. Among them was Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who now says she is contemplating a run.
On Wednesday, some of Ms. Pelosi’s critics — who have been pilloried as #FiveWhiteGuys on Twitter — floated the idea of putting another woman in the job, and named Ms. Fudge, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Come on in, the water’s warm,” Ms. Pelosi said on Thursday, seemingly mocking Ms. Fudge’s challenge. Asked if she had the 218 votes necessary to win the speakership, she said emphatically, “Yes.”
Though many Democrats do not regard Ms. Fudge as a serious challenge to Ms. Pelosi, any opposition could complicate life for her, because a number of Democrats have said that while they are undecided, they have no one else to vote for. A bid by Ms. Fudge would give them an option. And more than a dozen Democrats have already said that they oppose Ms. Pelosi, who is from California. The notion that men are at the forefront of the opposition to the 78-year-old leader has infuriated her most ardent defenders, who regard the campaign against her as both ageist and sexist. Mr. Ryan and his group are being pilloried on Twitter as #FiveWhiteGuys, although they are joined by a woman, Representative Kathleen Rice of New York.
Ms. Fudge told The Washington Post on Thursday she was “overwhelmed” with the support she had received from colleagues. One prominent opponent of Ms. Pelosi, Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, said Thursday that he had spoken with Ms. Fudge repeatedly throughout the day. “These male members were elected and got back here because of what women did,” said Representative Anna Eshoo of California, a close Pelosi ally, warning that they will risk primary challenges from women if they are not careful. “They’re playing with fire.”
“There’s plenty of really competent females that we can replace her with,” he said, listing the names of Ms. Fudge, Representative Karen Bass of California and Representative Cherie Bustos of Illinois, who is running to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As the first woman to become speaker, Ms. Pelosi, of California, is a history-making figure in Washington. She held the gavel from 2007 to 2011 and is considered by both Democrats and Republicans to be the most effective speaker in modern times. Were it not for her political skill and keen strategic sense, they say, President George W. Bush could not have secured the bank bailout he needed to halt an economic free fall and President Barack Obama could not have passed the Affordable Care Act.
In an interview, Ms. Bustos, a Pelosi supporter, brushed off the idea of being speaker, saying she was focused on the campaign committee race. But she has long been caught in a Republican campaign to vilify her, and after tens of millions of dollars of Republican attack ads caricaturing her as a San Francisco liberal, she has become a polarizing figure. Some Democrats in swing districts won their races by vowing not to vote for her and calling for generational change at the top. For them, gender is not a top concern.
Ms. Pelosi made history in 2007 when, after a unanimous vote of her caucus, she took the gavel as the first female speaker. “I never want to be disrespectful to anyone who has served, especially a woman who has broken glass ceilings,” said Elissa Slotkin, 42, an incoming representative from Michigan who just ousted a Republican in a tight race and has vowed to oppose Ms. Pelosi for speaker.
The current split over her leadership is especially striking among women, who make up two-thirds of the incoming freshmen Democrats. It seems both generational and ideological, with older women in the caucus almost universally in support of Ms. Pelosi, and some younger newcomers — especially centrists from states won by President Trump in 2016 — questioning the role that gender should play. “But people in my district on both sides of the aisle feel that it’s time for a new generation of leadership,” Ms. Slotkin went on. “For me, what’s most important for my district is someone who’s talking about kitchen table issues. That’s more important than gender.”
“I never want to be disrespectful to anyone who has served, especially a woman who has broken glass ceilings,” said Elissa Slotkin, 42, an incoming representative from Michigan who opposes Ms. Pelosi and just ousted a Republican in a tight race. “But people in my district on both sides of the aisle feel that it’s time for a new generation of leadership.” For Ms. Pelosi, who is making the case for herself in terms of competence and toughness, not gender, the House electoral math is complicated. She is still the odds-on favorite to be speaker and has no credible opponent; many Democrats believe she would easily beat back a challenge from Ms. Fudge, who told The Washington Post on Thursday that she was “overwhelmed” by support as she decided whether to run.
She added, “For me, what’s most important for my district is someone who’s talking about kitchen table issues. That’s more important than gender.” Ms. Pelosi has also been deploying some high-powered allies — including former Vice President Al Gore; Ellen Malcolm, the founder of the women’s political action committee Emily’s List; former Senator John Kerry; and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York — to call Democrats to urge them to support her.
But such talk mystifies Representative Jan Schakowsky, 74, Democrat of Illinois. “I don’t understand why they don’t see the value of having a woman, a mother of five, someone who has made part of her mission empowering other women,” Ms. Schakowsky said. “I wish these younger women could have seen her in action, in moving an agenda, in working for her victories.” But 17 Democrats have signed a letter opposing Ms. Pelosi, and at least three others have said they will not vote for her. With roughly 230 Democrats in the next Congress (some races are still being decided), that is more than the number of votes she can afford to lose if she is to get to 218.
Ms. Schakowsky called the attacks on Ms. Pelosi by their male colleagues “sexist,” saying they are not pushing to oust longtime male leaders like Representative Steny D. Hoyer of Maryland, who is running for the No. 2 job as Democratic leader, and Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who is running for Democratic whip. Beyond Ms. Slotkin, other female newcomers in swing districts, including Kendra Horn, who won a surprise victory in Oklahoma, and Cindy Axne of Iowa, said they were more concerned with the wishes of their constituents than with the gender of the next speaker.
“You don’t hear anything about other leaders being around too long, that we have to get rid of the men,” she said. “I’m just going to make a decision based on the best interests of the people of my district,” Ms. Horn said.
In many respects, the divide over Ms. Pelosi echoes the 2016 presidential nomination campaign of Hillary Clinton, who drew much stronger support among older women, as young women flocked to Bernie Sanders. Ms. Rice told reporters there were “plenty of women in the caucus” who could take Ms. Pelosi’s place and insinuated that the leader was playing the gender card as she tried to stave off an internal rule change that would ease a challenge to her speakership.
Celinda Lake, a pollster who advises many female candidates — including a number of the incoming House freshmen — said many, including some progressives, were wrestling with what to do about Ms. Pelosi. “What I don’t appreciate is putting a lot of our new candidates who happen to be women in the position where they are forced to break a caucus rule and then be accused of being anti-woman,” she said. “These are all strong, intelligent women who got into a race who had never been in politics before and won really difficult races, and they should not be disrespected that way.”
“I think to older baby boomer women she represents change,” Ms. Lake said. “To younger members she represents status quo.” Over all, the number of women in leadership may grow after Democrats elect their leadership on Nov. 28. Other women running for leadership spots include Representative Cheri Bustos of Illinois, who is seeking to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She noted in an interview that Democrats needed to win 23 Republican-held seats to take the majority; so far, 24 Democratic women are in the new freshman class.
“I hope that our caucus values our leadership team reflecting what happened on Election Day,” she said.
The divide over Ms. Pelosi is generational as well as ideological, and it mirrors a similar generational divide that surfaced among women when Hillary Clinton ran for president. Ms. Pelosi has the deep loyalty of older women in the House Democratic Caucus, while her support among younger women is more fragmented.
“I think to older baby boomer women she represents change,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who advises many female candidates, including some incoming freshmen. “To younger members she represents the status quo.”
Ms. Lake said a number of her clients, including some progressives, were wrestling with what to do about Ms. Pelosi and whether to come out against her. “They’ll say, ‘We want a liberal, we want change,’ and I’ll say, ‘You’ve got one — Nancy.’”
Two newcomers from Southern California, Katie Hill and Mike Levin, urged their fellow freshmen on Thursday to support Ms. Pelosi, saying in a joint announcement, “We don’t have time for internal squabbling — we have to get things done.”
Ms. Pelosi’s opposition mystifies Representative Jan Schakowsky, 74, Democrat of Illinois.
“I don’t understand why they don’t see the value of having a woman, a mother of five, someone who has made part of her mission empowering other women,” Ms. Schakowsky said. “I wish these younger women could have seen her in action.”
Ms. Schakowsky called the attacks on Ms. Pelosi by her male colleagues “sexist,” saying they are not pushing to oust longtime male leaders like Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who is running for the No. 2 job as Democratic leader, and Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, who is running for Democratic whip.
Ms. Pelosi brushed aside a question about whether her opposition is sexist.
“I enjoy a tremendous amount of support from the women in our caucus, from the new members who are women in our caucus. And so I get the upside, I think, of being a woman,” she said, adding, “If, in fact, there is any misogyny involved in it, it’s their problem, not mine.”