BALTIMORE (AP) — A new generation of House Democratic leaders taking over for Nancy Pelosi debuted at the party’s annual retreat, feisty and fired up to brag about their accomplishments with President Joe Biden and counter Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s new Republican majority.
The team led by New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who made history as the first Black American to helm a major political party in Congress, brings a wholesale reshuffling of congressional leadership eager to run alongside Biden if he seeks a second term in 2024 and as they work to win back the House majority. Pelosi and her circle stepped aside after some 20 years to make way for the new crew.
“All of us share the same goal: That is to safeguard the progress that we have made for the last two years and to make sure Democrats take the House again in 2024,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, who holds the No. 3 spot as caucus chairman, in opening the three-day party gathering.
But echoes of Pelosi are everywhere: from the location of the retreat in the former speaker’s Baltimore hometown to the Pelosi-isms sprinkled into the speeches, breakout sessions and catchphrases of the new wave of Democrats.
As Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, the second-ranking leader, introduced a dozen women newly elected to Congress and asked them to explain their reasons for seeking public office, she reached into the well of Pelosi sayings.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi taught us to ‘know our why,’” Clark said, as she turned it over to the newcomers.
Rep. Becca Balint, the first woman elected to Congress from Vermont, spoke of fighting for the “soul of democracy.”
“Trailblazers and tots,” said new Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a civil rights lawyer now representing a Dallas-area congressional seat, giving a nod to the Shirley Chisolm, the first Black woman in Congress, and the importance of supporting children….
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