Nancy Pelosi, the Minority leader in the House of Representatives, has been vilified by both Republicans and Democrats, has suddenly gained popularity again.
A poll recently conducted by the Republican National Committee found that Pelosi is more popular than President Donald Trump – and comes out first when the midterm election was cast as a race between the two, Salon's Shira Tarlo reported.
The private survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and obtained by Bloomberg Business Week, asked registered voters who they would support "when the November election is framed by Trump and Pelosi."
But Pelosi has appeared immune to the blatant vitriol thrown her way, saying to the New York Times in August 2018, that she “doesn’t care”about the Democrats who openly oppose her desire to be majority House Speaker again. "Let them do whatever they want. We have to win an election," Pelosi said, and winning is exactly her focus.
So far, Pelosi has raised over $83 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for this November's midterm elections.
The California Democrat also successfully overcame a late obstacle on her quest to reclaim the speaker's gavel, leaving her "free to pursue a historic comeback if her party wins a majority on Election Day," according to Politico.
The recent challenge to her leadership came when Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) tried to push a proposal through, which would have required a minimum of 218 Democrats to back their party’s future speaker nominee within the caucus. Politico elaborated:
That threshold would be impossibly high for Pelosi or anyone else to meet, and would essentially allow a minority of Democrats, in a secret vote, to effectively hold veto power over their party’s choice for speaker.
The Democratic candidate for speaker would still have to get 218 votes in an open roll call on the House floor, but that is considered a much more difficult vote to go against the party.
However, the anti-Pelosi team was only able to secure the support of 11 Democrats. When Pelosi pressed the due to vote on the motion, they Democrats withdrew it.
During the discussion, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) defended the backers of the motion to change the rules, according to Politico. Fudge has supported new leadership since 2016, when she backed Pelosi's challenger for the party's top leadership position, Tim Ryan.
"I believe now is the right time for new leadership. Democrats have experienced significant losses in the House and Senate, yet Members have been asked for little to no input to address the reasons for these losses," Fudge said in a statement at the time. "We continue to rely on consultants who know less than we about our districts and our states."
However, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) said the Perlmutter-Rice proposal "would turn us into the Republicans," as warring factions within the GOP have caused numerous headaches for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
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