Pelosi had been coy about her plans since the Nov. 6 elections failed to restore her to House speaker, the role that vaulted her into history books as the first woman to hold the post. It's unusual, though not unprecedented, for former speakers to stay in leadership posts, let alone hold onto their congressional seats.
But Pelosi, 72, didn't face any serious pressure to step aside. There aren't many moderate or conservative-leaning House Democrats left. The Democratic Caucus is now dominated by unapologetic liberals happy to see Pelosi stay in her post. Women and minorities for the first time in U.S. history will hold a majority of the Democratic House seats. "Progressive allies of House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are launching a furious last-minute bid to persuade to her to stay in her position, just 12 hours ahead of her scheduled announcement of her decision," Huffington Post reported Tuesday evening.
She's an iconic figure on the Left who House Republicans targeted, successfully, in the 2010 midterm elections, with the slogan, "Fire Pelosi".
Pelosi's decision to stay means there won't be a break to the longstanding backlog in House Democratic leadership. Her top lieutenants, Steny Hoyer of Maryland and South Carolina's James Clyburn, are also in their seventies. That means a younger generation of prominent House Democratic, including DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Budget Committee member, will have to wait longer to potentially move up.
Politix analysis and via Bloomberg and Huffington Post.
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