With Congress ready to take their Christmas break in the next couple of days, there are many concerns as to what the legislative branch could look like come next year.
First of all, thanks to two Senate races in Georgia that won’t be decided until next month, there’s no telling what the balance of the Senate will be once the elected officials return to Washington.
And then there’s the issue of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has been becoming more and more unpopular among fellow Democrats. According to a new poll, there may be trouble coming for the California Democrat.
Though Democrats’ House majority was nearly wiped out in last month’s election, the party appears poised to retain Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for a fourth, two-year stint as speaker next month.
A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows most Democrats think she should keep the gavel, but a majority of voters oppose Pelosi staying on as speaker. Only 31 percent of all voters think Pelosi should be elected as speaker when the new Congress begins, while 56 percent think she should not.
The election of the speaker is one of the first tasks for the House when it reconvenes on Jan. 3, but the shrunken Democratic majority — Republicans’ net gain in November currently stands at 10 seats and could swell to a dozen, depending on the disposition of two still-uncalled races — has threatened Pelosi’s position.
When Democrats assumed control of the House two years ago, 15 Democratic members defected from Pelosi, choosing another individual or voting “present” during the speakership vote. Of those, 10 are returning members of the Democratic caucus, and Pelosi will only be able to lose a handful of votes to clinch the speakership this time, depending on how many members show up.
It’s not surprising that a majority of Republicans are opposed to Pelosi remaining in the position as House Speaker, as the longtime Congresswoman has been a consistent thorn in the side of the GOP for years.
