Congressman Ryan Sees Some Good in His Democratic leadership Loss

“We have to get away from one person anointing people and we need to open the tent and let more members who want to contribute more, who want to be more involved, who have great ideas, have a lot of energy – give them an opportunity”, Rep. Kathleen Rice of NY, who was elected in 2014, told CNN. The party’s new leadership was chosen today in a private meeting using secret ballots.

SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE: Moments after winning a contested election for minority leader, Nancy Pelosi emerged to publicly pledged that Democrats will never suffer an electoral defeat as demoralizing as 2016.

Democrats also re-elected Steny Hoyer, 77, of Maryland as whip, the number two position, as well as James Clyburn, 76, of SC in the number three spot as the assistant Democratic leader.

His vote for Pelosi stands in stark contrast to Tallahassee’s departing Democratic congresswoman, Gwen Graham.

Pelosi tried to placate junior lawmakers by offering new or modified positions, including the new position of “vice-ranking member” on the more than 20 standing House committees and reserving it for lawmakers who have served four terms or less. But there’s also backlash from that, particularly from the Congressional Black Caucus that sees that as potentially a way of weakening their long-term strength on – in the committees. Pelosi has been an outspoken leader of the liberal agenda for many years. Even more grumbled that rushing into it looked tone deaf.

No doubt Ryan and his supporters in the House will pay a price for opposing Pelosi. She also rolled out endorsements from MoveOn and other progressive groups.

Describing the differences between his Midwestern background and Pelosi’s coastal San Francisco lifestyle, Ryan described to Hardball host Chris Matthews how big donors told him to challenge Pelosi for the leadership spot.

And even Nancy Pelosi – who had just won a grueling fight to head the Democrats for another two years – struggled to shrug off the nearly one-third of Democratic lawmakers who voted against her. She’s done a lot of hard work through the years and done a lot to help many of them get elected and get re-elected. She’s unparalleled in her ability to raise money for House Democrats, and she’s admired by younger lawmakers, like California’s Eric Swalwell. “She’s been there on every economic argument that I’ve gotten into and gotten engaged in”, Warren said.

He further explained that one of the major issues that lead to the Democrats’ loss on Election Day was the party’s failure to differentiate itself enough from the Republican Party. “It’s going to be won in union halls in the industrial Midwest and fish fries in the Midwest and the South”.

“Our base is working people and we’ve got to talk about that”.

Ryan said he was “disappointed” by the result but felt optimistic that his message connected with colleagues. In the past decade, though, she is fairly experienced in losing battles. Where we.need to oppose, we will.

Hoyer and Clyburn were unchallenged Wednesday for their re-election, and the caucus elevated Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., to the No. 4 post of caucus chairman, and Rep. Linda T. Sánchez D-Calif., became the first Latina in leadership as caucus vice-chairman.

“I am from Niles, my wife is from Struthers, and we know what working- class people are all about”, he said. The White House has not formally weighed in. “She combines strong, progressive values with just extraordinary political skill”.