House Democrats Strike Leadership Deal

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)
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House Democrats will begin the next Congress with a leadership team that looks much like the one they have now if a deal struck between Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn last night sticks. The essence of the plan: Pelosi will become Minority Leader, current Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will become Minority Whip and Clyburn — the current Majority Whip — will take a new number three job in the minority. Current Caucus Chair John Larson can remain in the Democrats’ number four job in the new Congress.

Clyburn will take a newly created position called “Assistant Leader,” according to a letter Pelosi sent to Democratic members today. As Roll Call reports, it’s “unclear” what exactly the new position entails, or “whether the job is different from the Assistant to the Speaker position currently held by Rep. Chris Van Hollen.”

The deal brings to an end a fight between Hoyer and Clyburn for the Whip job that threatened to mar Pelosi’s expected transition into the House Democrats’ top job when the Republicans take over in January. The final round of the Hoyer-Clyburn struggle came late last night when Pelosi threw her support behind Clyburn for the number three job.

“Without Jim Clyburn’s determination, we would not have expanded college opportunities for millions of students, improved community health centers, or promoted jobs through investments in infrastructure, including rural broadband,” Pelosi said.

The deal with Clyburn keeps an African American in Democratic leadership, which would have been lost if Clyburn had lost to Hoyer in the Whip race, as he was expected to.

But the end of the Whip fight does not entirely end the House leadership drama. Around 20 have publicly voiced their concern with Pelosi’s decision to run for Minority Leader, and conservative Democrat Heath Shuler is expected to cause a minor stir by taking her on from the right.

This post was updated after it was published.

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