Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee and an influential Democrat in the House, sent a letter to colleagues and the incoming class of House Democrats on Monday, urging them to keep House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in leadership and ignore the faction of members whispering about her ouster.
“For two years, (a small group of House Democrats) asserted that with Nancy Pelosi as our leader, Democrats could never win back the House,” he wrote in the letter, flagged by Politico. “They claimed that these relentless Republican attacks made Leader Pelosi appear too divisive and they argued that she should step aside for the good of the party. But then last Tuesday happened. And the American people obliterated the theory that Nancy Pelosi could not lead House Democrats to victory.”
While Democrats won’t vote on the speakership for another two months, both Pelosi and her allies have been pushing to keep her name at the top of the list for House speaker, despite some opposition and some support for new leadership.
Over the weekend Pelosi warned that ousting her now would be a betrayal to women, especially after the party won back control of the House on a wave of female candidates.
Last week, Pelosi even earned the endorsement of an unlikely supporter: President Donald Trump. At least twice last week, Trump commented that Pelosi deserved the chance to be speaker and even praised her for her hard work.
Read Cummings letter to Democrats below:
