Nancy Pelosi Reelected as Speaker of the House, Despite Losing Democratic Support

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Jan 3, 2021

Nancy Pelosi was reelected as the Speaker of the House on Sunday, and will preside over a diminished Democratic majority even as she lost leadership support relative to the last Congress.

House Democrats are currently slated to lose as many as 12 seats in the lower chamber of Congress, leading many Democrats to question the effectiveness of Pelosi’s leadership. Pelosi received 216 votes as Speaker on Sunday, just short of an outright majority. Her thin plurality was enough to continue her term as Speaker because several members of Congress voted either ‘present’ or were absent for the vote enshrining her.

Socialist progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ultimately bent the knee and voted for Pelosi’s speakership, despite emerging as a Democratic critic of Pelosi’s leadership.

Pelosi has suggested that the 117th Congress will be the last she’ll seek to preside over as Speaker, in a promise conceivably made to deter some of her progressive critics from opposing her leadership. Pelosi turns 81 in March, leading some members of the Democratic caucus to question as to if they would benefit from from youthful and vigorous leadership.

Kevin McCarthy is primed to continue on as House Minority Leader, with Republicans having significantly expanded their minority and situated to make a serious play for the House Majority in 2022 midterm elections.

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