House Democrats challenging Nancy Pelosi

Following House Democrats' first full meeting with both their departing members and incoming members-elect, reporters asked Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan-Who's Organizing a Face-to-Face Interview of Nancy Pelosi's bid for speaker-and-heels would really follow through with the effort that's going on in the caucus, on its first day in charge, during its first vote.

"Yes," he said. He did not miss a beat.

Ryan claims that he's a member of the "mid-20s" who are adamant that they would not support Pelosi in a floor vote for speaker. Of those known, it 's about to be split between incumbents who' ve sought to overthrow Pelosi for years and new members. Since Pelosi can only suffer from 15 or 17 defections, it may not have the votes. On Tuesday night, Mass. Rep. Seth Moulton, one of Pelosi's most persistent thorns, said with "100 percent" confidence that Pelosi would not have the numbers to become a speaker, as did Texas Rep. Filemon Vela.

28 caucus vote determining the party's nominee for the post, the rebels plan to release a public letter with the signatures of members who would vote for Pelosi. (HuffPost Wednesday, already had 17 signatures with more in the wings.) Ideally, they say, Pelosi would see the writing on the wall, bow out of the contest before the caucus vote, and allow House Democrats to nominate someone else who could get 218 votes, this is an embarrassing show on the floor.

Minds can change-but those close to Pelosi say that she will never do that.

"Pelosi has been clearing this floor," one senior Democratic aide said. "She just elected the [most] Various House of Representatives in History, and she is not going to be detained by five white guys. "Her strategy is to win the closed-door caucus nomination on Nov. 28, present the choice as a binary between her and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, and turn the pressure to a boil, daring Ryan's group to block her on live television.

With each side expressing 100 percent confidence in their ability to succeed, the first House in the House of Democracy is headed towards a house of the house. Just how to kick off a fresh congressional session in power.

Thoughts of the law, the flood of emails for the press should suggest that the insurgents have its attention. The leader has many appointments to reporters, including those from the chairmen; unions like the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers, and the Service Employees International Union; NARAL; and, for some reason, to form President Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. Pelosi has made appearances with the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week, and she's throwing multiple dinners and receptions for new members who are in town for orientation. As Politico reported, she 's gotten Democrats like Andrew Cuomo, John Kerry, and Gore to call specific members. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton can not be too far behind. The pressure is ramping up. Incoming members, who were all smiles to reporters as they showed up for their first day of orientation on Tuesday, ahead of them.

Ryan and the company have had their hands full of what they consider or smears from Pelosi's camp. The opponents take issue with Pelosi supporters 'endlessly repeated creed that "you can not beat somebody with nobody" -i.e., That the rebels' inability to line up a direct challenger dooms them. While some coup-curious members would like to have an idea of ​​who would replace Pelosi before signing on, there's a truth to the rebels' counterargument: You can, indeed, beat somebody with nobody if the somebody can not get a majority of House votes . In 2015, after Speaker John Boehner was forced out, Kevin McCarthy was defeated by nobody: When it became clear that he could not win the House Freedom Caucus' votes, he was bowed out of the race, and eventually Paul Ryan was persuaded to step up.

That talking point about the "five white guys" trying to get a woman from her speakership riles up Pelosi's antagonists, too. The group is broader than Ryan, Moulton, and a few other white guys. Reps. Kathleen Rice and Marcia Fudge are among the steadfast Pelosi opponents, while incoming members like Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens, and Abigail Spanberger also said, to varying degrees, that they would not support Pelosi.

For now, both sides seem interested in destroying each other.

"I'm a woman, and they should not be made to feel that they are anti-woman if they do not want to vote for Nancy Pelosi," Rice said. "We have an enormous number of talented women in the caucus. Year Enormous number of women. So it's not "Nancy Pelosi's the woman we're not going to have a woman." It's just not right. "Ryan pointed out that he, too, would like to see a woman become speaker. "Able to do the job, in his words-and rattled off names like Fudge, California Rep. Karen Bass, Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos.

The incumbents challenging Pelosi argues that they're trying to help Democrats hold the House by Pelosi to keep their word.

"The untenable situation that we are giving to these new members," said Rice, "You're saying, you're violating the caucus rule," "-of supporting the party's nominee during the floor vote-" 'or you Keep your campaign promise. 'And I just think that that's wrong. I think we have to do everything here. "

Ryan also dismissed another option that Pelosi has been exploring: "What do you want to do?" Pelosi would need to win.

"That's a very dangerous proposition, because you're getting cute," Ryan said. "And the last thing in this environment is someone trying to get cute."

Pelosi supporters have a different argument for how, they are the ones trying to protect new members-while it's the incumbent challengers who are making things difficult. If the dozen or so incumbent rebels, their re-elections were comfortably, they were willing to cut a deal with leadership for their votes, which would be more favorable to the vote. For now, though, both sides seem more interested in destroying each other. Temperatures would be discussed.

Pelosi is far from finished, even if some of her public supporters, in private, are beginning to speculate on whether she can pull it off. She has six weeks left to apply her full arsenal of pressure tactics. In the worst-case scenario, she could also persuade some Republicans to vote for this or to vote "present," something that seems difficult to envision purpose is under discussion.

One Pelosi ally, with an air of confidence that was particularly persuasive, told me that the letter Ryan, Moulton, and others are actually preparing for release to be helpful to Pelosi. I asked Ryan what he thought about that.

"So you want to be one of our constituents, who just voted for, in a huge election," said Ryan, "[and] your goal is to get them in their first act in Congress? They will not be in Congress more than an hour, and our leaders are asking for them?

"I just think that's not the way we should be doing business around here."