Pelosi’s defensive comments came as Democrats remained angry and divided after throwing some $30 million into a House race in Georgia on Tuesday, only to end up with a loss that wasn’t even very close. Voters may be wary of President Donald Trump, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi remains an albatross for Democrats, one that Republican victor Karen Handel effectively exploited in the Georgia race.
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Representative Tim Ryan of OH, who has been a vocal critic of his party’s overarching political strategy, said Democrats needed to recognize that they were “toxic” in huge parts of the country. The 4-point win in the most expensive congressional race in history was a blow to Democrats, who sought to wrest control of a suburban Atlanta district that Republicans have held since the 1970s.
“We as Democrats have to come to terms with the fact that we lost again”, said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.
“This is certainly something that we have to discuss because it’s clear that, I think, across the board in the Democratic Party we need new leadership”.
Nate Cohn of The New York Times looked at the numbers and concluded, “The good news for Democrats is that they don’t need to win all of these Republican-leaning districts or even majority”.
Pelosi’s office claims even loftier triumphs, saying she’s raised more than $500 million for Democrats since entering the party leadership in the early 2000s, including $141.5 million in the 2015-2016 cycle.
“Everybody knows where I stand on this”.
Pelosi’s supporters were quick to respond, arguing that a victory in the ruby-red Georgia district was always a longshot for Democrats.
“It’s not impossible, but it’s harder”, he said. Ultimately, Pelosi still got support from about two-thirds of the caucus, though the 63 votes Ryan garnered were the most serious defection Pelosi has ever faced. And as shorthand for “liberal”, you can’t get much better than the House minority leader from San Francisco.
“Rs will target any effective Dem leader”, Drew Hammill tweeted.
Democrat Jimmy Gomez defeated his other Democratic opponent, Robert Lee Ahn, in a special election for California’s 34th Congressional district held on June 6. While disappointed with Tuesday’s loss, they’re thrilled that victory was within their grasp and optimistic about the message that sends ahead of the 2018 midterms.
She also dismissed the notion that the Republicans’ longtime tactic to hold her up as a partisan lightening rod drags down public opinion about fellow congressional Democrats and candidates. We have closed the gap dramatically. I was definitely in the camp that our best shot here was in the big primary. Bed-wetting Democrats should remember that special-election defeats aren’t the best predictors for the following year’s general races.
In this March 28, 2017 photo, House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J. speaks during a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. “A loss is a loss is a loss, and there’s no excuses”. The GOP should remember this, too: Democrats won the first seven special elections after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, but the midterm elections in 2010 were disastrous for the party. BARELY The Georgia 6th is an affluent and well-educated district that has elected Newt Gingrich, the former speaker; Johnny Isakson, now Georgia’s senior USA senator; and most recently Tom Price, who resigned in February to join the administration. According to CNBC, Trump won this district’s presidential votes by only 1.5 points. By buying into it, Democrats helped embolden the Republican argument for the importance of this one House race that was already rigged against them.
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“It’s always terrific to be able to leave that Washington swamp and spend time with the truly hard working people we call American Patriots, truly wonderful people”, President Donald Trump told a crowd attending his latest still-campaigning rally, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, aka “home of the greatest wrestlers in the world”. “It’s 218 or nothing”, said Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.).
