A growing movement among some Democrats to oust House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as the party’s leader is running into an ironic problem — no strong challenger to replace her.
“You can’t beat somebody with nobody,” a former senior Democratic aide said, according to The Hill. “And they have nobody right now.”
The talk of replacing the 78-year-old California Democrat is a popular refrain come election time, but she’s proven to be a formidable opponent. Her fundraising ability alone being among her strongest assets, as is her legislative chops.
With the belief that the House could be in play in November, some Democrats think Pelosi is dragging down candidates locked in competitive races that the party needs to win, CBS News reported.
Real Clear Politics reported that “more than 40 Democratic nominees for House seats, and another 11 Democratic incumbents, have publicly said they don’t want Rep. Nancy Pelosi to regain the speaker’s gavel if their party wins control of the chamber.”
There is talk of a need for “generational change” within the party.
“The fact that our top three leaders are in their late 70s — I don’t care who those leaders are — that is in fact a problem,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said last month in an interview with CNN.
The heir apparent to Pelosi was thought to be Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., but he lost a primary battle with “the future” of the party, democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The shocking upset further emboldened the growing socialist base in the party that’s still energized over the support Bernie Sanders, another democratic socialist, received in his 2016 presidential run.
This wing of the party proudly proclaims it’s radical beliefs and calls for presenting a sharp contrast to free market Republicans.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., head of the hard-left Congressional Progressive Caucus, is frustrated that a contender has yet to surface to challenge Pelosi.
“There’s no real obvious pretender to the throne right now,” Grijalva said, according to The Hill. “You hear supposition and rumor that so-and-so is interested, and that Pelosi is the one under scrutiny by everybody.
“It would be good to get a name that people can also begin to provide that same kind of scrutiny.”
As for Pelosi, she told the Associated Press last month she’s not going anywhere.
“This is not anything to make a big fuss over, its politics,” she said of the scuttlebutt about replacing her. “I can take the heat and that’s why I stay in the kitchen.”
The liberal lawmaker also touted her national support.
“I have a following in the country that’s unsurpassed by anybody,” Pelosi boasted, “unless they’re running for president.”
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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