House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that her leadership run depends on the outcome of the midterms, what fellow Democrats want, and her family.
“Well, the fact is, any decision to run is about family, and also my colleagues and what we want to do is go forward in a very unified way, as we go forward to prepare for the Congress at hand,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Third in line for the presidency, Pelosi announced she will make the decision before November 30, the date of the Democrats’ leadership elections and a month after her husband, Paul, was viciously attacked in their San Francisco home.
Pelosi also suggested that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) might not have the votes to become the Speaker of the House if Republicans were to gain control, but didn’t want to comment as roughly 20 House races are still uncalled: “No, I don’t think he has it. But that’s up to his own people to make a decision as to how they want to be led or otherwise.”
Another Republican, Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) said there will “absolutely” be a challenger to McCarthy. “He’s essentially had a two-year audition with the exclusive opportunity to earn the vote of the conference, to demonstrate he’s willing to fight against the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer agenda, and he failed to do that,” Good said.
Meanwhile in the Senate, which the Democrats just secured, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position may also be up for grabs. While some Republicans are pointing fingers at former President Donald Trump for the lack of a “red wave,” Trump is blaming McConnell. “[Trump] isn’t making explicit asks, but he wants to see more Republicans holding Mitch accountable,” a person close to Trump told CNN.
Former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Miller is also blaming McConnell for the election results: “We have to note the extraordinarily fateful decision on the part of the senate leadership fund and Mitch McConnell to take the money that should have been spent in Arizona to get Blake up on TV early on, and instead give it to Lisa Murkowski for a Republican battle against the Republican-backed nominee in Alaska.”
“We are all disappointed that a Red Wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not. We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024,” Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) wrote in a letter pushing to postpone leadership elections, which are currently scheduled for Wednesday morning. In the same vein, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) says he will vote against McConnell and Senator-elect Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said the GOP needs new leadership in the Senate.
By contrast, on Sunday morning, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he would support McConnell.
The Senate will be controlled by the Democrats, as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) won her seat in Nevada on Saturday evening, and one more seat is still undetermined; Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) will head to a run-off in Georgia on December 6.
Kelly Rissman
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