“Never Pelosi” Democrats are learning why Nancy Pelosi was speaker in the first place

WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Pelosi is now House speaker-elect after outmaneuvering her loudest critics by opening up a grab bag of perks. Over the past year, more than 50 Democrat House reps nationwide pledged to never support her speaker bid — indeed, some actively ran against her. But over the past three weeks, she went down the list and slowly plucked off the votes needed to scare away any potential challenger, and in the secret ballot Wednesday, Democrats supported her 203-32.

Now, the Never Pelosi crowd will have to go back to their districts and convince voters that the one or two concessions they got in exchange for flipping isn’t just a broken campaign promise.

“You look for opportunities to maximize your vote. Life's about leverage, and the legislative life is mostly about leverage,” Rep. Brian Higgins, of New York, told a throng of reporters clamoring outside Democrats' closed-door caucus meeting.

For months Higgins had vowed to oppose the 78-year-old House Minority leader, but this week he flipped and supported her for speaker after he was able to get Pelosi to agree to bring up a massive infrastructure bill and a measure to allow anyone over 50 to be eligible for Medicare.

The small group that opposed Pelosi favored fresh leadership without specifying any particular shortcomings. A group of new progressives never outright opposed Pelosi but remained on the fence. That enables them to line up asking her for everything from action on climate change (in the case of Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) to a seat on the powerful appropriations committee (Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib). Still others demanded action on gun control, including the promise from Pelosi to bring up a vote on a background check bill.

“I do believe that we can make bipartisan progress on this issue, and that we have a mandate from the electorate to be bold,” Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) told reporters at the Capitol this week. “Leadership on this issue has been a long time coming.”

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) was openly flirting with challenging Pelosi for the gavel, but she took her name out of the running after Pelosi promised she’d be named the chair of a new subcommittee on elections that Pelosi is bringing back, after Republicans axed it when they were in power.

While Pelosi was racking up support from Fudge, other freshman lawmakers were left wondering why no serious challenger ever emerged.

Congresswoman-elect Johana Hayes (D-CT) opposed Pelosi while on the campaign trail, but this week she reversed course after Pelosi assured freshmen she’s willing to give them key committee slots and to listen to their input and not just that of veteran lawmakers on an array of issues. She says she never truly laid out a list of demands and that she still wanted to support someone other than Pelosi, but she was never given the opportunity.

“I was hoping that someone else would stand up and say, ‘Listen, I think I have what it takes to do this as well,’ and I didn’t see that,” Hayes (D-CT) told reporters at the Capitol. “One of the primary roles of a speaker is to rally the vote, to get people on one accord. If you can’t even do that on this part of the process, then how can I expect that in a role as speaker?”

This week Pelosi was also able to placate nine more-centrist Democrats (known as the Problem Solvers Caucus) who were vowing to oppose her on the floor unless she agreed to allow more input from rank and file members on the House floor. She agreed just ahead of the vote for speaker, and they fell in line.

But there’s still a handful of sitting lawmakers and freshmen who are holding firm in the Never Pelosi camp.

“I’d like to see new leadership. I have been here now for a couple weeks and we just haven’t been talking about things that are important to my district,” Congresswoman-elect Mikie Sherill (D-NJ) told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday. “The people who are talking about the things that are important to my district are, quite frankly, the freshmen. I think we’re all ready to get to work.”

Pelosi’s top lieutenants are willing to forgive the freshmen, especially those in tough suburban districts who are still vowing to oppose Pelosi on the House floor where she can only afford to lose 16 votes.

“God bless them,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told VICE News. “They ran for Congress and told their constituents they were going to fight for their constituents. They should do that.”

But Pelosi and her allies may not be as forgiving to the returning members of Congress who are still vowing to vote against her on the floor, but they’re ready to exact retribution if need be.

“We have to move forward. We’re not going to vote for a Republican speaker,” Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) told VICE News. “There are some new members who actually ran on not voting for Pelosi, and the way I feel is that the senior members have to protect them. Someone has to step back at some point, but the majority has to rule; otherwise we’re going to have chaos.”

Still, we don’t know all that Pelosi gave away to solidify support.

“It’s going to stay between us,” Congressman-elect Colin Allred (D-TX) told reporters at the Capitol.

When asked if he'd demanded anything specifically from Pelosi, the former NFL player smiled.

“Of course,” Allred replied. “That’s going to be between me and my constituents after I get — or don’t get — what I’ve asked for.”

And that also means we won’t know what all Pelosi gave away, or will be giving away, to solidify support ahead of the all-important January vote on the House floor.

Cover: U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (C) speaks to members of the media as (L-R) Rep.-elect Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep.-elect Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) listen at the lobby of Longworth House Office Building November 28, 2018 in Washington, DC. House Democrats have nominated Rep. Nancy Pelosi to run for Speaker of the House for the 116th Congress. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)