Nancy Pelosi faces a serious challenge from Democrats in bid to be House speaker
Tim Ryan says the party should look elsewhere to better reflect Rust Belt states, black women
By Gabriella Muñoz and Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times - Updated: 6:10 p.m. on Sunday, November 18, 2018
Rep. Tim Ryan had just been sworn in to Congress when he first voted for Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House in 2003.
The Ohio Democrat voted for her again in the next seven elections, helping elevate her to the role and making her the first-ever woman to reach the House’s highest post in 2007, and sticking with her even after Democrats lost the chamber in 2011.
In his 16 years in Congress, Mr. Ryan has never known a Democratic leader other than Mrs. Pelosi. He says it’s long enough.
Despite overseeing Democrats’ surge back to the majority, Mrs. Pelosi is facing a serious challenge from within her own ranks from a rump group of lawmakers who say the party needs new blood at the top. Mr. Ryan, who’s one of Mrs. Pelosi’s chief antagonists, says the party needs to look elsewhere to reflect Rust Belt states critical to Democrats’ fortunes, and the black women who are the “backbone†of the Democratic vote.
He also wants to protect a crop of incoming freshmen who vowed to move on from Mrs. Pelosi, whose favorability rating fell to a nine-year low among Democrats earlier this year, according to Gallup.
“They were agents of change, not just to Donald Trump but also reforming the Democratic Party,†Mr. Ryan said of rookies who plan to buck Mrs. Pelosi.
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