Pocan, Moore back Pelosi for Democratic House leader

“If we’re going to take back the Congress, we need to go into red counties, red areas of the state and convince people we’re for the working person”, Betras said. Keeping our leadership completely unchanged will simply lead to more disappointment in future elections.

“I think we are going to have to win 30 or 40 Congressional districts in the southern part of the country in red Congressional districts – southern Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and MI”.

Overall, the math still appears to favor Pelosi. And she strongly defended her record, pointing to how the Democrats got back into the House majority in the 2006 midterms during the Bush years – and suggesting the same would be true in the Trump years.

But Ryan said Democrats need to have “rough family conversations”, about reconnecting with blue-collar workers.

“What I’ve said is that my colleagues continue to express themselves in the caucus, and that’s the responsibility of the chair and the vice chair to listen to our colleagues and hear them out”, he said. I expect the entire Caucus to hold me accountable.

Ryan said that holding a Democratic leadership position has never been his life’s ambition, but cites the recent election and steady decline of Democratic seats as reasons to reevaluate our roles within the government.

According to Fox News Chief Congressional Correspondent Mike Emanuel on Special Report, “Congressman Tim Ryan, is challenging Nancy Pelosi saying Democrats will never be the majority party if they only win NY and California”. “And I know we will be unified”. Some Democratic lawmakers had been urging Crowley to challenge Pelosi. Even in the minority under Obama, Pelosi has been a savvy negotiator with GOP leaders when Democratic votes were needed to advance legislation.

“She has been an extraordinary leader”, said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

Out of frustration with the Democrats’ collapse in numbers and power over the last decade in Congress, two members are being floated to give Pelosi a run for her money, Reps. In the letter, Ryan said he spent hours talking to House members about his plans. “I don’t think that you can come in and say the way forward for Democrats is to do exactly what we’ve been doing”.

And she also proclaimed that she has already secured support from two-thirds of the Democratic house caucus.

The group credited the California Democrat for squandering their majority – losing 63 seats to Republicans in 2010 – by promoting unpopular policies like Obamacare. “Some see Crowley, the gregarious and imposing 6-foot-5-inch vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus and a prolific fundraiser, as the figure to lead the way”, the report states.