House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expected to give up her position of leadership after the 2022 midterm elections, according to multiple reports.
After serving as the top Democrat in the House for nearly 20 years, Pelosi, 81, finally plans to step down later this year. Her exit is part of an agreement she reached with congressional leftists in 2018, in which she agreed to limit her tenure as speaker to four years.
The favorites to take over her position include Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who has served as both the majority leader and minority whip, and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who has been the majority whip and the party’s assistant Democratic leader.
However, another favorite among Democrats is Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the current chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Jeffries and Clyburn are the top candidates, according to several members who spoke to the Washington Post, because Democrats want Pelosi’s replacement to be “equally as historic as electing the first female speaker,” and electing Jeffries or Clyburn would mean electing the first black person to lead a chamber of Congress.
“He’s brilliant, he’s smooth, but he is fearless,” one lawmaker said. “I mean, if we are fighting for something, I want Hakeem Jeffries on my side because he will go to the mat on an issue.”
Other Democrats who might campaign for the position include Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the head of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
When asked about the future of House Democrats’ leadership, Jayapal did not say whether she was planning on running for Pelosi’s position, but said that whoever ends up winning should have far less power than Pelosi has now.
“I think there was a ‘holding of power’ model that worked very well for a long time, and I think now it is more about a recognition of different centers of focus within the Democratic caucus that have to be brought in and brought together,” she claimed.
