It is now known that the Democrats will have a significant majority in the next House of Representatives (that will be seated in early January of 2019). That would normally mean the next Speaker of the House would be a Democrat.But there is a small group of anti-Pelosi Democrats that are trying to force the party to bend to their will. They remind me of the "freedom caucus" that caused so much trouble for Republicans in the 115th Congress? Is this group going to keep Democrats from accomplishing anything in the 116th Congress. Maybe. They are certainly sounding like they could be troublemakers who will divide the House Democrats.
They are now claiming they will vote against Nancy Pelosi when the Speaker election is held on the floor of the Senate, and they claim they have enough votes to prevent her from winning the Speaker election.
These Democrats (?) don't have enough votes to keep Pelosi from becoming the Speaker nominee of the House Democratic Caucus. She will be the nominee of the party. The Republicans will put their own nominee up -- and the one with the most votes will be Speaker.
Understand that the anti-Pelosi Dems are not saying they will abstain from the vote. That would just reduce the number of votes needed to become Speaker. They are saying they would actually vote against Pelosi -- and the only way to do that is to vote for the Republican candidate. Even if the faction put up their own candidate, it would just require a second vote (after their candidate was eliminated), and would once again come down to Pelosi or the Republican.
Are these people really willing to vote for the Republican? Is their misogyny so strong they would put a Republican in as Speaker of the Democratically-controlled House? I'm wondering if they have thought their ridiculous threat through. The folks who elected them did not do so to get another right-wing Republican Speaker. Some of them might even face a recall, and all of them would have a real Democrat opposing them in 2020.
I suspect this is just a lot of huffing and puffing, and most will fall in line on Speaker election day (while a few will vote present). They are trying to force their minority view on the majority. It won't work. Nancy Pelosi is going to be the next Speaker of the House -- and any Democrat that votes against her will only be hurting themselves. No real Democrat would vote to install a Republican as Speaker.
