Pelosi floats above the Democrats’ Civil War

Over the past decade, Pelosi has had the same post-election routine: quickly putting out whispers of an insurgency as a handful of members seek to end his long tenure as leader. But this year, Pelosi is set to step into another – and possibly final – term as a speaker, with her position as secure as ever despite losing at least six net seats after predicting that they would increase their majority.

Instead of blaming Pelosi, House Democrats have turned on each other in a resumption of the ideological war that is raging within the party. Snipers have become sharp and personal, with centrists and liberals blowing themselves up by name both in private and in the press. The two sides discussed privately how they will exercise their will even more at the next Congress.

Meanwhile, Pelosi’s only potential challenger, Jeffries, has made it clear he has no interest in the job this quarter. Often mentioned as a possible Pelosi heir, Jeffries withdrew from the race by declaring another candidacy for the caucus chair on Monday. This move essentially guarantees the highest level of leadership – Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn – a path to another term at the top of the House.

But this time the task of governing will be much more difficult. Pelosi will chair one of the thinnest House majorities in decades, a fractured group that is still figuring out who is to blame and how to move forward with a Joe Biden administration and possibly a Republican Senate.

Moderate Democrats have said there is no way to get past GOP campaign ads, accusing them of supporting far-left ideas like defounding the police and banning fracking. Leading progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) quickly fought back, saying her centrists were responsible for not doing enough to consolidate their own neighborhoods, including spending more on digital ads.

“I’m sure everyone is convinced of what they are saying and what they are doing,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “[But] the democratic caucus is not the real battleground. And the faster we recognize that we will be better. “

Much of the Democratic caucus remains shocked – if not outright furious – by the results of the House election. Moderate Democrats, many of whom barely survived their own re-election battles and watched more than half a dozen colleagues fall, are furious at their leadership for not seeing the blow coming.

Despite the grunts, Democrats in the Swing District have no plans to offer a challenger to Pelosi or any other leader, according to several lawmakers and centrist aides.

Instead, these Democrats – including some who tried to block Pelosi’s latest run for president – say they are focused on launching their next leader while making sure Democrats refine a message a lot. stronger to protect their majority in 2022.

“The time has come. The current leaders have done a good job in some ways. In others, they have unfortunately become a bit toxic,” said Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), A Senior Blue Dog, in an interview.

“No one will run against the top three, we have no other candidates. And frankly, I think the other candidates would not be prepared, ”added Schrader. “But what we need to do is have a clearer way to train and transition the next generation.”

Several moderate Democrats said they were disappointed with the party’s leadership in all areas, not just the election results, but what they saw as a deceptive response from the summit. On its own, the Blue Dog Coalition is well on its way to losing a half-dozen or more members from the election, with several races still not called.

“The leadership has tried to paint a very optimistic picture of what happened on Tuesday and which undermines the confidence the grassroots have in how we’re going to hold our mid-term majority if you can’t even bring the leadership.” to recognize that something is wrong. , that something happened, ”said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a leader of the Blue Dogs, in an interview.

Much of the backlash, both publicly and privately, has been directed against Democratic Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Who has become something of a punch bag after announcing this week that she would not seek re-election for this role. The moderates argued that Bustos was looking to create an overly large battlefield map – wasting millions of dollars in Texas in particular – and failed to see the enthusiasm on the GOP side. Progressives, meanwhile, called the DCCC disconnected, given its reliance mostly on white executives and consultants.

Bustos continued to defend the DCCC’s strategy during a call with members on Tuesday, saying the massive battlefield had in fact forced Republicans to go on the defensive to protect seats they would not normally care about. , diluting the number of GOP attacks on the most vulnerable Democrats.

Bustos also took what was seen as a direct blow to critics of Ocasio-Cortez, claiming that “Democratic candidates have overtaken Republicans on Facebook from anywhere, by a margin of 2 to 1 to 10 against 1 ”in difficult districts. Other Democrats have also said that Ocasio-Cortez’s claims that some Democrats spent $ 0 on digital ads the week before the election were false.

While Bustos has been the main target of internal anger, Pelosi’s name doesn’t go unnoticed among the growls. After all, the California Democrat remains the party’s most prolific fundraiser, along with its agenda and primary messenger.

Still, Democrats say Pelosi likely won’t need to fend off the type of rebellion she faced in 2016, when she faced the candidate from afar, Rep. Tim Ryan, and in 2018, when she faced off. was forced to accept term limits in an agreement. with the Democratic rebels. (Two years later, Pelosi declined to answer the question of whether she is still committed to that timeline, which would cap her presidency after two more years.)

There is talk among the moderates of trying to extract more concessions from Pelosi this time around. But the drama is largely centered at the grassroots level instead, with the dueling factions of centrists and progressives increasingly making themselves heard as to why they think the other side has cost them Democratic seats.

Progressives are emboldened after joining their ranks. Justice Democrats, the muscle behind Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 victory, backed two other main challengers, and several other Liberal candidates won open blue seats.

Moderates, meanwhile, say they are done playing nicely after feeling like they tiptoed around this Congressional caucus Liberals, only to see many of their members being knocked out afterwards. to have been tagged by the GOP with the rallying cries of the extreme left.

And for some of the most senior members of the caucus, there is exasperation that the party has failed to stave off rhetorical attacks from the GOP.

“We need to be clear that we are not for cutting police funding and allowing this lie to continue to be out there,” said Representative Greg Meeks (DN.Y.). “We are not for cutting police funding and we are not socialists. The language must be clear. “

In some ways, the Democratic caucus is experiencing the kind of intra-party drama one would expect after their “big tent” widened in 2018. But over the past four years, Democrats have covered up their divisions with a common enemy: Donald Trump.

“Because of the threat from Trump, which he represented… we had to suppress a lot of feelings,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) Said. “So now that it is safe to come back to the surface, we need to avoid taking the turns when we are out in the air.”

Ally Mutnick contributed to this report.