"It was a reach then and I think it will still be a reach in 2018", said one Democratic operative following the race. Tuesday's wake-up call mirrored just how far they have to go to even get out of the batter's box. Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice from NY told CNN that it's time for the Democrats to let her and the entire Democratic leadership team go. But Democrats need a net gain of 24 seats for a House majority, and in good years, parties usually gain only half the seats they seriously target. Their action plan: Keep talking.
During her weekly news conference around the same time, a defiant Pelosi challenged the idea that she should go simply because the GOP base doesn't like her, noting that the right tends to denigrate whatever Democrat happens to be in power.
"That is why I'm able to attract the support that I do, which is essential to our elections, sad to say", Pelosi added, in a reference to her unparalleled fundraising hauls.
After Democrats lost a special election in Georgia's 6th district on Tuesday, the debate over Pelosi's role only increased in Democratic circles. Trump's election doesn't necessarily settle the internecine argument between the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders wings of the Democratic party in favor of full blown socialism, but it does at least make the case that a robust, easily identifiable policy agenda is necessary. I'm a strategic, politically astute leader. Back in November, she was elected for an eighth term as majority leader, but her main rival, Representative Tim Ryan of OH, received 63 of 197 votes cast.
Said Rice: "The Republican playbook has been very successful". Their attacks are often crude and unfair; but GOP voters believe them and develop an instinctual hatred of said politician. That a win in Georgia was going to be a huge referendum on what they perceive as unhappiness with the GOP party and our president blanketing the American landscape. Elections, though, come down to choices, and when the choice was between a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat as it was in November and is likely to be in four years, the voters again picked the former over the latter.
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Thursday he agreed with Democratic congressman Tim Ryan's claim that the Democratic brand is worse than President Donald Trump's in some parts of the country. "The voters decided that Karen Handel was a better representative of their values, their interests and their perspective than Jon Ossoff", he told me.
Nevada's Heller becomes 5th GOP senator opposed to health bill
Democrats immediately attacked the legislation as a callous giveaway to the rich that would leave millions without coverage. But unlike the House version of the legislation, it's not called the American Health Care Act .
Pelosi brushed off the , contending that Trump hadn't actually written it himself because "it's a classic Republican line".
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) is a super PAC that took in over $50 million in 2016, with $20 million coming from Republican mega-donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who also attended the meeting, said, "in every corner of our caucus, we're concerned". In districts dominated by one party, election battles are fought mostly in the primaries; the victor from the majority party becomes a virtual shoo-in to win the general election. The CBC includes roughly 40 House Democrats, many in senior leadership and committee positions, including Pelosi allies.
She also dismissed the notion that the Republicans' longtime tactic to hold her up as a partisan lightening rod drags down public opinion about fellow congressional Democrats and candidates.
When pressed to give a name of who might fill that void, Rice said, "I look to a lot of my colleagues now".
It's unclear what options the detractors have, given their small numbers and the overwhelming support Pelosi still enjoys within the caucus she's controlled for the last 14 years.
Rafael Nadal Makes History at the French Open
