House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has long been dismissive of chatter about threats to her leadership position. But that seems to be shifting, a new sign of how credible those threats have become.
In a Wednesday interview with the New York Times, Pelosi maintained that she found interest in the matter “perplexing,” but softened a little when it came to the possibility of a post-Pelosi party.
[Also read: Sacramento Bee urges Nancy Pelosi to abandon speakership ambitions]
“What I have always tried to do is build a bridge to the future, and hope that would be in the majority,” she said. “If people want to be the bridge that I’m building toward, they have to show what’s on the other side of the bridge.” Any successor, according to Pelosi, who have to prove “they do have a following, that they’ve shown a vision for the country.”
Bewildering bridge metaphors aside, her willingness to even entertain the possibility is noteworthy. Pelosi has been wont to deflect or engage in self-defense.
The Times story paints a good picture of how the threats have intensified recently. In addition to the “group of insurgents” lead by Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., the article reported that “a larger, diffuse group of old-guard lawmakers… have been holding meetings and carrying on text-message conversations about spurring change after the midterms, according to several participants in the conversations.”
Third-ranking House Democrat Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, whom members of the Congressional Black Caucus have urged to “step forward” if Pelosi doesn’t have the votes to remain in her post, said he was open to replacing her. “If the opportunity is there I would absolutely do it,” Clyburn noted.
Pelosi told the Times that Clyburn’s interest doesn’t bother her, and she sees him as a brother. But that either member is even having this conversation is significant on its own. It’s been a long year for Pelosi, a major focus of GOP attack ads in centrist districts, but also the subject of some dissatisfaction among the anti-establishment Left. Rather than digging in her heels, it seems as though mounting pressure has left her willing to acknowledge the reality of the situation.
