Say anything to get elected.
Via Roll Call:
Some of the newly elected Democratic House members who said on the campaign trail they would not support Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for speaker have already shown signs of cracking as Pelosi ramps up the pressure for them not to divide the party before it even takes control of the chamber in January.
Rep.-elect Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat who said during her campaign that the party needs “new leadership, and it starts at the top,” declined to affirm that statement after meeting with Pelosi on Friday.
“I’m sorry, I got to go,” Sherrill told reporters waiting outside the minority leader’s office. She directed reporters to her press aide.
In an interview on Oct. 11 on local TV, Sherrill blasted her Republican opponent for trying to tie her to Pelosi at a debate.
“I don’t support Nancy Pelosi. I put out a commercial saying that I don’t support Nancy Pelosi,” Sherrill said.
The New Jersey Democrat is one of a handful of freshman Democrats who have softened their opposition to the caucus’s likely choice for speaker in January.
Rep.-elect Andy Kim, another New Jersey Democrat, defeated Rep. Tom MacArthur on a platform that included ushering in a “new generation of leaders” in both parties.
But he dodged a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter’s question about his previous opposition to Pelosi and whether anything had changed.
“Right now I’m not making any commitments,” Kim said. “I certainly wanted a new generation of leadership, and that’s certainly still something I want.”
Haley Stevens, an incoming freshman member from Michigan, had also signaled during the campaign she would not vote for Pelosi for speaker on the House floor.
But she kept her options on the table Friday before lawmakers and elected lawmakers, who’ve been at new member orientation this week, head home for Thanksgiving.
“I haven’t said no,” Stevens said of supporting Pelosi, CNN reported.
One new Democrat who has stuck to her guns in opposition to Pelosi is Virginia Rep.-elect Abigail Spanberger, whose opponent in the midterm elections, Rep. Dave Brat, invoked Pelosi’s name more than 20 times in their debate in October.
“I have tremendous respect for everything that Leader Pelosi has been able to accomplish thus far in her very distinguished career in Congress,” Spanberger said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday. “But I do think it is time, as we have such an incredible level of divisiveness in our political rhetoric and discussions. We need new leaders in the conversations.”