House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) announcement on Thursday afternoon that she will not seek a leadership role in the next Congress has paved the way for a new, younger generation to lead House Democrats. Pelosi had served as her party’s leader in Congress since 2003. According to a pair of senior Democratic staffers, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is likely to be named the party’s leader in a vote set for November 30.
Jefferies would be a great choice, but let’s not get out too far in front of our skies. Jayapal and others would be great too, there’s a lot of good options, I hope there is a considered approach rather than an impulsive one. The obvious picks haven’t always worked out well for Dems.
When I lived in Vermont in the 1990s, there were no Hispanic people on dairy farms that I knew of. Now, I’m told, “everyone who touches a cow” there is Hispanic.
I don’t want to jump the gun here. And many have told me there’s no such thing as, ‘it’s his time’ or ‘it’s her time’.
We have found that out more than a few times. I hope whomever is interested in the job and feels they could succeed Nancy (a tough act to follow) gets the opportunity to try for the job and not to go to one guy or gal by default.
In some cases, they are captives stuck on the farm with no transportation off and no english to help them navigate a store in the local town. It seems like the owners like it that way. I have heard the stories from people over there.
Every time I hear Hakeem Jeffries speak, I am impressed by his intelligence and ability to communicate complex ideas in a way that is easy to understand. He is no pushover and would be an excellent choice in the leadership role.
2 Thumbs up.
I’m going to assume that Nancy, being the best goddam speaker in the history of the universe, and also being, well, old, has been succession planning for a while. I would even guess that when she became speaker again in 2018, she probably set '22 as her probable step-down time. The assassination attempt probably just solidified her departure date, rather than really changing it. Anyway, I am 100% sure that part of her plan has been discussing leadership with all of the probable, and probably keeping various people in their lanes. I’m sure all of the actually good candidates, like Jayapal and Jeffries, have been part of these conversations and the decisions.
Nancy ran a tight ship, and she would not leave it without having everything in place first.
When I lived there, there were lots and lots of old French Canadian dairymen who didn’t even try to speak English.
Fun fact: I’d see them in line at the grocery store reading “Soap Opera Digest” off the rack, because the daily timing of a dairy farm gave them a midday break to watch their “story.”
It is often the case that a person is more effective not being in a leadership position as this ties them to the “party line”.
This may very well be the case with Pramila Jayapal. She has been extremely effective as the leader of the Progressive Caucus. While I have no doubts on her ability to be in the leadership, being in the House Democratic leadership would give her less freedom then being the leader of the Progressive Caucus to be Primila Jayapal.
