Nancy Pelosi Re-Elected as Speaker of the House

Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as the Speaker of the House on Sunday as the 117th U.S. Congress prepares for its session. The incoming members of the House of Representatives convened in Washington, D.C., to decide who would lead the chamber in the term to come. Once again, Democrats chose 80-year-old Pelosi as their head, according to a report by Politico.

This will be Pelosi’s fourth term as House Speaker, though those terms were not consecutive. The California Congresswoman first led the House from 2007 to 2011, then reclaimed the office in 2019 thanks to the massive turnout at the 2018 midterm elections. She is controversial to both Republicans and some Democrats, as pundits pointed out on Sunday, but ultimately she amassed enough support to keep her office. Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report noted that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example, was one of the last to cast her vote for Pelosi.

Pelosi and her closest allies have reportedly been working hard to ensure she has enough support to be re-elected as Speaker, reaching out to other Democrats to gauge their votes. Additionally, the circumstances of the vote itself unnerved many representatives. Congress convened despite the coronavirus pandemic, going so far as to construct plexiglass boxes for some lawmakers to cast their votes from.

“The lack of communication with the minority makes this 100 percent political,” said Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee. “To build a structure like that, in the dark of night, to only protect the votes that Speaker Pelosi needs to get reelected speaker, is shameful.”

Absences due to the pandemic could have cost Pelosi the Speakership, some analysts say. She was also concerned with the thinner-than-usual margins between the majority and minority parties, along with the presence of “rebellious Democrats” who would not have made her their first choice. All in all, this was likely the closest Pelosi has come to losing this office in all of her elections so far.

Still, Pelosi’s supporters are vehement that she is the right one to lead the House into the Biden administration. House Democratic Chairman Hakeem Jeffries gave a speech nomination Pelosi, saying: “This is a moment of great challenge here in America filled with trials and tribulation, with a lot of pain and suffering and death. Nancy Pelosi is a resilient leader. Brighter days are ahead in the United States of America.”

The 117th Congress takes office later this month, along with President-elect Joe Biden and the newly-elected United States Senate.