With better than expected wins in the 2018 midterm election, Democrats are poised to take firm control of the US House of Representatives.  Now, only 1 question remains:  who should be the new Speaker of the House?

Politics
As a former Speaker of the House and current Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi is a natural choice to reassume the mantle and lead her party back to power.  She has the support of a number of prominent Democrats (including former President Barack Obama) who recognizes her unique ability to corral votes within her caucus and work across the aisle in order to get things done.  However, a large (and growing) contingency of incoming Democrats are pressing to release the old guard and refresh the “new” Democratic party with a brand new leader.  Or, in other words, they want anybody but Pelosi.

Already, a group of 16 Democrats penned a letter to Pelosi, declaring they would not support her bid to return as Speaker of the House.  Then on Friday, a group of 9 joined the threat to withhold support for Pelosi in favor of new leadership.

This latest group of 9 Democrats are calling themselves the “Problem Solvers Caucus.” They say they will refuse to support Pelosi unless she agrees to a list of demands that includes rule changes that could potentially ‘Break the Gridlock’ and allow for more bipartisan legislation to pass.

“While we appreciate Leader Pelosi’s broad commitment to our effort, we have yet to receive specific commitments to our proposed rules changes that would help ‘Break the Gridlock’ and allow for true bipartisan governing in this new era of divided government,” the group said in a statement. “Without specific changes, we will face more of the same — small pockets of extreme ideologues will continue to block the will of the commonsense majority.”

The caucus added that the November election is proof that “the American people have had enough of obstructionism and pure partisanship” and instead want Congress to govern and pass meaningful legislation.

With a final vote for Speaker of the House set for January, Pelosi has already been going one by one to those congressional representatives who oppose her in the hopes of changing their minds.  Surprisingly, she has already secured some success.

For example, Rep. Brian Higgins of New York was 1 of 16 to sign the opposition letter last week.  However, he reversed his position after Pelosi promised to be open to Medicare for people over 50 and an infrastructure bill, something many Democrats have said would likely receive bipartisan support.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York (who will become the youngest member in the history of Congress), was also part of a group vehemently opposed to returning Pelosi to the Speaker of the House post.  However, she has also had a change of heart and says she is now willing to support the former speaker provided that she take a stand in favor of progressive values.

“I agree that our party should, and must, evolve our leadership,” Ocasio-Cortez said last Wednesday. “But changed leadership should reflect an actual, evolved mission; namely, an increased commitment to the middle + working class electorate that put us here. Otherwise, it’s just a new figure with the same problems.”

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All the challenges to Leader Pelosi are coming from her right, in an apparent effort to make the party even more conservative and bent toward corporate interests.

Hard pass. So long as Leader Pelosi remains the most progressive candidate for Speaker, she can count on my support. https://t.co/yNVa8IorWY

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 21, 2018

The strange thing about the fight to displace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House is that no one seems willing to run against her. https://t.co/VhBqf4KJom

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) November 21, 2018

Rep. Marcia Fudge — an Ohio Democrat who had been weighing a potential run for House speaker and was once considered Pelosi’s most prominent challenger now says she will endorse the former House Speaker to return to the job.

“I now join my colleagues in support of the leadership team of Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn,” Fudge said in a statement, referring to Reps. Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn, who are running to retain the respective positions of No. 2 and No. 3 highest-ranking Democrats in the new Congress.

Slowly but surely, Pelosi and her team have been successfully dismantling all challenges to her return to power as US Speaker of the House.  However, she still faces some pushback, primarily from those who see her as a political pawn to Republicans and a potential punching bad for Donald Trump

With her previous experience as Speaker of the House and her unique ability to unite the party and collect the necessary votes to get things done, is Nancy Pelosi the clear choice to lead Congress?  Or, did the electoral outcomes across the country in November deliver a clear message that it’s time for change and for fresh, new Democratic leadership?

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