House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the target of “yelling and crying lawmakers” after Republicans made significant gains Tuesday, setting them up to retake the majority in 2022.
DailyMail.com reported that at an hours-long conference call leaked to the Capitol Hill press corps, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., who narrowly won a second term Tuesday, accused party leaders of caving to the far-left “Squad,” led by democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York.
“We need to be pretty clear, it was a failure. It was not a success. We lost incredible members of Congress,” Spanberger said.
She charged the party’s advocacy for the radical Black Lives Matter agenda cost it dearly.
“No one should say ‘defund the police’ ever again. Nobody should be talking about socialism,” she said. If the current tactics continue into 2022, she said, “we will get f—— torn apart.”
Democrats expected to pick up five or more seats but may end up losing 10.
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida, who unexpectedly lost, cried, DailyMail.com reported, as she “mentioned how people can’t pronounce her name and then told her colleagues to stop being negative on Twitter.”
Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., insisted her faction was not to blame and called for “a real autopsy” on the election to find out what happened.
DailyMail.com said: “The call was billed as a ‘family session’ but became a bitch fest between the liberal wing of the party and its more moderate members – all of whom were disappointed by the Democrats failure to win more seats. The party expected to pick up five or more on election night.”
Pelosi may face a challenge to her speakership from centrist Democrats, The Hill reported.
Two unidentified Democrats told the publication they were reaching out for thoughts on backing Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., even though he has rejected the idea.
“He’s the only one prepared and positioned” for the job, one lawmaker said. “He bridges moderates and progressives better than anyone. And most importantly, he’s not Nancy Pelosi.”
One of the two lawmakers who spoke to The Hill said a number of Democrats representing suburban and exurban districts had been talking about the need for a change.
“It’s time for Democrats to elevate a new generation of leadership in both the House and the Senate,” one Democrat said. “Americans are clearly afraid of ‘socialism,’ want safe streets and neighborhoods and to vote for people who they believe will help put more money in their pockets. While Democratic policies can adequately address those issues, our messaging mechanism clearly cannot.”
They said they had already spoken with dozens of members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus, New Democrat Coalition and bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
