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March 29th, 2024

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How some of Nancy Pelosi's strongest allies turned into leading antagonists

Paul Kane

By Paul Kane The Washington Post

Published Nov. 17, 2016

The Closing of the American Mouth

WASHINGTON - Some of the biggest dissidents in Nancy Pelosi's Democratic caucus can be found in the same spot during almost every set of House votes: "Pennsylvania Corner."

During Tuesday's roll call the group -- a collection of mostly male Democrats from the Midwest or Northeast -- huddled and gossiped, many whispering to Rep. Tim Ryan, Ohio, who sat in the third seat in from the chamber's farthest corner.

Ryan has emerged literally from the Democratic back-bench to float a potential challenge to Pelosi, who is seeking an eighth term leading House Democrats, after last week's elections disappointed her party, which now has no clear path to ever recapturing the House majority. It's unclear whether the 43-year-old Democrat will truly challenge Pelosi, but Ryan and his friends have upended what was expected to be a seamless re-election of the entire slate of top Democratic leaders.

Instead, Pelosi delayed elections for two weeks when "Pennsylvania Corner" joined forces with other disaffected lawmakers.

Ryan, first elected in 2002, summed up the group's angst by pointing to the disappointing results in three of the last four elections: "I mean, here we are in the worst shape we have been in since I first got here. This is not fun anymore. This is not fun to wallow in the minority."

It's a stunning reversal. Pelosi once counted this group as part of the backbone of her support.

Their name, "Pennsylvania Corner," comes from the spot where for several decades the state's Democrats regularly gathered and plotted how to use their clout to deliver for their state and influence fellow Democrats. Their heyday came during the reign of the late John P. Murtha, D-Pa., a longtime dean of the state's delegation whose firm grip on the Pentagon's budget made him an extraordinary power broker in Washington.

It also made Murtha someone whose support Pelosi sought out early. Starting on the House Appropriations Committee, they formed a strong bond that would last beyond Murtha's death in 2010 from an infection. Just last month, Pelosi traveled to Philadelphia for the christening for the USS John P. Murtha, a warship that can carry up to 800 sailors.

"We will never see his like again," Pelosi said at the Penn's Landing ceremony.

Murtha, who was elected in 1974, occupied that far corner seat in the chamber every day, back when committee and subcommittee chairmen wielded almost equal power to the speaker. He gathered acolytes from his defense spending subcommittee, the Pennsylvania delegation and others that just flocked to his side.

He threw his support behind Pelosi's early leadership bids. This, along with her backing from California's massive delegation and the growing crop of female lawmakers, made her impossible to beat.



In 2006, as Democrats claimed the majority, making her the first woman to wield the speaker's gavel -- she immediately threw her support to Murtha in a sneak-attack to defeat Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., for majority leader. The tip of the spear in Murtha's campaign, doing Pelosi's bidding, were his corner men: Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., Bob Brady, D-Pa., John Larson, D-Conn., and Mike Capuano, D-Mass., among others.

Hoyer won easily, having built strong alliances throughout the caucus. That's rendered him incapable of being toppled, but also without enough support in the increasingly liberal caucus to defeat Pelosi.

In four years as speaker, Pelosi tapped Murtha's understudies for tough tasks. Larson served as the No. 4 member of leadership. Capuano had the delicate task of overhauling the House ethics process after a slew of scandals last decade.

Then came 2010. Murtha died. So did the Democratic majority.

Among the net loss of 63 seats came a devastating amount of political bloodshed among Murtha's old allies. Pennsylvania went from a 12-to-7 edge for Democrats to what is now 13 Republicans and five Democrats; Ohio went from a 10-to-8 edge for Democrats to its current balance of 12 Republicans and four Democrats.

Without their direct line from Murtha to Pelosi, "Pennsylvania Corner" lost its influence and its ability to try to shape leadership decisions. After those 2010 midterms, Rep. Bill Pascrell, N.J., and Capuano tried to delay leadership elections for a deeper soul-searching mission -- they were dismissed.

Flash forward six years, and Tuesday's bid to delay elections had surprising support. In a raucous meeting in the Capitol Visitor's Center basement, complaints grew from each ideological nook of the Democratic caucus.

"We need to be sure we give everybody the chance to have input," Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, summarizing his comments.

A younger generation joined the movement, including a pair of Marines who fought in Iraq, Reps. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Seth Moulton, D-Mass. They drafted a letter calling for deeper analysis of what went wrong in the elections.

That combination, from "Pennsylvania Corner" to the CBC to ambitious younger Democrats, is a formidable group but probably not enough to topple Pelosi.

Frankly, it's unclear they all even want to oust Pelosi.

Younger lawmakers are upset Pelosi never convinced the caucus to impose term limits on top committee posts -- most ranking members of key committees are over 70-years-old -- and still allows seniority to be used as the top criterion for selecting the panel leaders. But CBC members are upset that Pelosi has even considered imposing such restrictions, saying that if political measures like fundraising dictate those assignments, members from low-income districts will never get the fruits of victory.

Meanwhile, across the Rust Belt, Democrats are furious the party leadership is almost entirely coastal, leading to an agenda that focused on liberal cultural positions as President-elect Donald Trump won their states with an economic message.

So by late Tuesday, as votes began, "Pennsylvania Corner" was alive again. One Democrat described it as a "bee hive," buzzing about what to do next. They huddled, they talked, then they fanned out across the floor talking to others.

When votes ended, Hoyer wandered over to the seat where his rival, Murtha, sat for years. He huddled with Doyle and others, smiling and laughing.

One Democrat, still supportive of Pelosi but seeking a better examination of the elections, couldn't believe his eyes: "We're a long way from Jack Murtha."

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Previously:
11/08/16: Sometimes even the best Senate candidates can't win 07/14/16: The likely end of vice presidents as congressional emissaries
05/02/16: Is the 2016 election about to change again? Dem Schumer, a one-man super PAC?
03/31/16: And now for some good newsCan Trump become so unpopular that Dems take back the House?

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