House Democrats vote on Pelosi

By Philip J. Noble 12/1/16

Nancy Pelosi held on to her position as House Minority Leader once again, beating challenger Tim Ryan of Ohio 134 to 63.

The outcome matched Pelosi’s expectations. In response to concerns regarding one-third of House Democrats, Pelosi said “They weren’t defections, I got two-thirds of the vote.”

This win comes after the unexpected Democratic loss in the general election, but Pelosi remained optimistic, saying “we know how to win elections, we’ve done it in the past and will do it again.”

Ryan actively campaigned for the Minority Leader position, while Pelosi mostly refrained from direct confrontation. On Tuesday, however, she did address her challenger, pushing back against his claims that she had limited appeal in the heartland and with industrial workers.

Pelosi stated that she had strong support among unions, directly addressing Ryan’s concerns about her supposedly limited appeal to working class voters saying, “I’m constantly invited by the unions to go to their meetings. That’s just not, it’s just not true.”

Despite Pelosi’s landslide victory, Ryan was satisfied with having pushed some of his agenda forward in the Democratic platform, including creating a position or freshman members and Vice-Chair and Vice-Ranking Member positions for committees. These changes are expected to disperse power among House Democrats, giving less senior congressman a louder voice in the party than they’ve had before.

Ryan also stated that he could help broaden the party’s appeal, saying “I think I could make a big difference pulling those Trump voters back, because those are the voters who voted for me.”