Nancy Pelosi to stay on as Democratic leader in the House

Cleaver had filed a motion earlier this month to delay the Democrats’ leadership election, a move that allowed time for Ryan to announce a longshot bid to topple Pelosi.

While some Democrats have grumbled about their leadership growing stale – Pelosi and her two top deputies are all in their 70s and she has led the caucus for more than a decade – Ryan, her seven-term opponent from OH, has no experience as a leader in Congress.

Pelosi won 134 votes out of the 198 House members in a closed-door election Wednesday morning. “It’s about the character of America”.

During a media briefing prior to the leadership vote, Ryan said, “If we don’t wake up and smell the coffee, we’re going to be the minority party, the opposition party, for a long time to come”, adding, “That’s just the reality”.

In response to criticism, Pelosi proposed changes to the House caucus before the vote which would allow for more elected positions and would put limits on leadership positions. “I think that she can unify us and we’re going to need that in the risky period that we’re in”. That was by far the largest defection Pelosi has suffered since she began leading House Democrats in 2002.

She told reporters that she was “exhilarated” by her support.

The leadership race was the most hard for Pelosi in the almost 10 years since she became the first woman speaker of the House and the highest-ranking elected woman in the US government.

Ryan, flanked by his public supporters including Bay State U.S. Reps.

“I think I could make a big difference pulling those Trump voters back because those are the voters who voted for me”, he said. Today we won. We may not have won the position, but we won a caucus.

“We’ll fight relentlessly to defend it”, she said. Where we can – we need to oppose, we will. We have now a leadership that wants to be more inclusive. The changes would bring younger Democrats into leadership positions and keep other members from remaining in the same role for too many terms.

“I am deeply disappointed today as the House Democratic Caucus has made a decision to double down on its failed strategy of recent years”, said Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. “So I think his effort is very worthwhile”.

Ryan, who has praised Pelosi and called her a mentor, argued Democrats must do more to woo the working class white voters who largely abandoned them in favor of President-Elect Donald Trump. Maryland representative Steny Hoyer, 77, will continue to serve as Democratic whip, and South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn, 76, will continue in the number three spot as assistant leader. As for the party’s message, which was central to Ryan’s bid, Swalwell didn’t vary far from what his OH colleague has pushed for.

Kind’s spokeswoman Amanda Sherman says Kind won’t say who he backed because “this is exactly the type of inside Washington politics that Wisconsinites are sick of hearing about”.