Some House Democrats mull over how to oust Pelosi as leader

The congressional seat was left vacant when its previous congressman, Tom Price, accepted an offer to serve in President Donald Trump’s cabinet.

Still, like in Jon Ossoff vs. Karen Handel, the 2018 IL gubernatorial race will be a high-stakes contest that garners national attention. After everything that’s happened over the past seven months, anti-Pelosi Democrats have a right to make their case. But his proposed 2009 stimulus package was smaller than many economists recommended and his health-care plan, with its emphasis on markets and incentives, was initially conceived in the naive hope of winning some Republican support.

“What happened on that ballfield was a bad tragedy and we need to all continue to lift up Steve and the others who were injured that day”, Handel said. “Because in these United States of America, no one – no one – should ever feel their life threatened over their political beliefs and positions”.

The good news for Democrats is that they were able to hold Handel to a Trumpish rather than the traditionally expected margin in such a district. “And Karen Handel is the woman who literally wrote a book called “Planned Bullyhood”.

The Republican victory in Georgia’s special election Tuesday shouldn’t be taken for granted, according to the New York Post’s John Podhoretz.

In a Tuesday night tweet, Trump congratulated Handel, saying “we are all very proud of you!” “I’d be very very disappointed if she did”.

There’s also an even more basic reality: Showing that the party will dump its leader if Republicans are persistently negative enough about that leader only gives the GOP more incentive to use aggressive tactics – and puts the next Democratic leader on tepid ground from the outset.

“Democrats won’t win the House by running the same cookie-cutter campaign in every district”, says Mr. Mermin, a native of suburban Atlanta who is now a partner at Lake Research in San Francisco. They need to win 24 seats to take control of the House in 2018.

In Politico, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel advises Democrats to do what he did, as House campaign chairman, in 2006: Recruit candidates with local roots and views suited to local terrain – and with sharp political instincts, which both parties’ candidates seemed to lack in the special elections.

Ossoff told his supporters: “The fight goes on”. Losses by Republicans in any of those races would likely have hastened the retirement of incumbents in competitive districts and would have emboldened strong potential Democratic candidates to jump in. “They have to connect with the people, they have to focus on their priorities, and those are going to be different in a blue-collar manufacturing district in OH than they are in a highly educated, suburban district in Georgia or California”. To pull this off Handel had to keep her distance from Trump. She rarely mentioned the administration, despite holding a closed-door fundraiser with the president earlier this spring.

The loss also renewed the focus on Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who was demonized by the GOP side in the Georgia race. She can boast about her unique ability to raise a stupid amount of money for Democratic candidates and causes. The two candidates together had spent more money on this campaign than on any other House contest in USA history, over US$50 million. Higher turnout would probably have helped Republicans in the other three special elections, too.

Pelosi said Thursday that she has “always featured the young 30-somethings”.

Ask nearly any Republican member of Congress about his or her ideology, and you will get a variant of “I am a proud conservative”.