Weakened Nancy Pelosi Is Back As Drunk, With Power, Speaker
In a 216-208 vote, Pelosi was reelected as House speaker. Pelosi launched her bid on Nov. 6 in a letter to her Democratic colleagues, congratulating them on maintaining a majority in the House. The vote was closer than expected due to the Democrats' small majority as well as members being out due to positive COVID-19 tests.
After the November elections, Pelosi told Democrats that their party had "a mandate." Democrats in the House reportedly voiced their concerns about the future of the party with Pelosi in a caucus call, as the party did not expand their majority but instead lost several seats. Virginia Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger was reportedly the most vocal, causing Pelosi to fire back saying Democrats have a "mandate."
ALSO THIS REPORT:
A severely weakened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won re-election on Sunday with only 216 votes, less than a majority of 218 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
After voting concluded according to C-SPAN's count, Pelosi had 216 votes and an emboldened House minority leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) secured 209 votes. Two members, both Democrats, voted for somebody else and three members-also Democrats-voted present.
The fact that Pelosi could not even get a majority of members in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote for her-since the House has 435 voting members, a majority is 218-is a sign of how much weaker she is since the 2020 congressional elections in November saw massive losses for House Democrats.