Nancy Pelosi doesn't currently have the votes to be speaker [View all]

[workinclasszero]

Here are the 17 House Democrats who oppose Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House.

By Ella [e-mail] Nov 15, 2018, 1:05pm EST

A total of 17 Democrats have signed a letter signaling their opposition to Pelosi, the intent of which is to demonstrate she doesn’t have the 218 votes to be speaker and encourage another person to challenge her. But when that letter will be released is still an open question.

The names, first obtained by the Huffington Post’s Matt Fuller, include:

Tim Ryan (D-OH)

Seth Moulton (D-MA)

Kathleen Rice (D-NY)

Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)

Kurt Schrader (D-OR)

Filemon Vela Jr. (D-TX)

Stephen Lynch (D-MA)

Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

Bill Foster (D-IL)

Brian Higgins (D-NY)

Linda Sanchez (D-CA)

Jim Cooper (D-TN)

Rep.-elect Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ)

Rep.-elect Joe Cunningham (D-SC)

Rep.-elect Max Rose (D-NY)

Rep.-elect Anthony Brindisi (D-NY)

Ben McAdams, the Democrat running against Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) in Utah has also signed, but he has not secured a win in his congressional race.

And there are other committed no’s who aren’t on the letter. Newly elected members Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Jason Crow (D-CO), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), and Conor Lamb (D-PA) have not yet signed the letter but have publicly committed to vote against Pelosi on the all-important January 3 floor vote.

A potential Pelosi challenger is emerging

This isn’t the end of Pelosi’s problems. Fudge, a former chair of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus, is reportedly considering her own speaker bid. The Ohio Congress member hasn’t yet made a decision, she told a local paper.

“People are asking me to do it, and I am thinking about it,” Fudge told cCeveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton. “I need to give it some thought and see if I have an interest. I am at the very beginning of this process. It is just in discussion at this point.”

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/15/18095869/nancy-pelosi-speaker-votes-democrats-letter