Pelosi Opposes ‘Democratic Socialists’ Challenging Dem Incumbents
Retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is definitely liberal on virtually every domestic policy issue, but she’s not a fan of her party’s rising left-wing ‘democratic socialist’ wing.
And she said as much earlier this month after Democratic Socialists of America candidates managed to knock off incumbent Democrats in several primaries in recent weeks.
Speaking at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, Pelosi said this is not a good year for the DSA insurgency as her party angles to win back control of at least the House in the midterms.
“Well, let us again define our terms. I was not for candidates coming in and running against our incumbents because we needed to win the House. In other words, weighing the equities,” she said, noting that the goal is to win back power.
“No – I wasn’t happy about people saying, ‘Let’s spend a whole lot of money challenging Democrats,'” she said.
“You want to do that? Do that, but don’t think that that’s something that is good for this year,” she added.
“Do it a year when we have the luxury of having the majority, but not when we’re trying to–you can’t gain by losing.”
Pelosi continued, “Can’t lose your members. The idea is that there will be those who will be out there to just take down the incumbents when this is our year to honor the Constitution of the United States.
“I’m not for that. You run any time you want. Do whatever you want to do,” she went on.
“But don’t expect that to be welcome when we’ve got to stay completely focused on saving the Constitution,” Pelosi said, falsely suggesting that the nation’s founding document is at risk under President Donald Trump and the GOP majority.But that said, it’s possible that Pelosi’s brand of Democrat politics is waning.
About one-third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults identify as democratic socialists, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
The survey found that while these voters remain among the Democratic Party’s most loyal supporters, many also favor significant changes within the party as democratic socialist candidates continue to gain momentum in elections.
Following New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory over Andrew Cuomo last year, several candidates identifying as democratic socialists have won Democratic nominations in U.S. House races, including successful primary challenges against incumbent Reps. Adriano Espaillat of New York and Diana DeGette of Colorado.
Upcoming primary elections will help determine whether that momentum can extend beyond traditionally Democratic areas.
Recent polling in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, for example, found democratic socialist Francesca Hong leading the field in the closely watched battleground state.
Democratic socialists are about as likely as other Democratic-leaning Americans to believe the Democratic Party needs either a complete overhaul or major reforms.
However, they are more likely to view changes in the party’s leadership and the nomination of younger candidates as positive developments, CNN said.
The poll also found that democratic socialists are nearly twice as likely as other Democratic-leaning adults to support moving the Democratic Party further to the left on policy issues, the survey noted.
As far as who makes up the socialist-leaning members of the party, the survey found they:
Tend to be younger (59% are younger than 45, compared to 46% of non-democratic socialists aligned with the Democratic Party) and are more likely to be White (57% to 49)
Are less likely to have a college degree (66% to 54%) and more likely to earn less than $100,000 a year (76% to 65%)
Are more likely to say they are extremely motivated to vote this year (66% of those who are registered voters say so, compared to 57% for non-democratic socialists)
‘Missing Person’ Posters Featuring McConnell Go Up Throughout DC
Sen. Mitch McConnell has not returned to his duties six weeks after being admitted to a Washington, D.C.-area hospital.
Initial reports said he suffered a cardiac arrest, but weeks later, his office released a statement and photo of him and wife Elaine Chao with him fully clothed sitting in a hospital bed appearing to look coherent, saying he had merely suffered a fall and then caught a “mild case of pneumonia.”
His office released another statement from the Kentucky Republican earlier this week, but increasingly, more people are becoming skeptical that McConnell’s health is improving with rehabilitation and are demanding more ‘proof of life.’
And now, people are beginning to poke fun at the entire situation.
Overnight on Wednesday, missing-person flyers featuring McConnell’s photo appeared throughout Washington, D.C.
The flyers claimed the 84-year-old senator was last seen on June 11, three days before he was taken from his home by ambulance.
The flyers also mocked McConnell’s appearance, describing him as “turtle-like” and “tortoise-like,” while joking that he was “known for blocking something in the Senate.”
“If you have any information about his whereabouts, please keep it to yourself,” the flyer reads. “He would.”
The flyers were created by a group called the Save America Movement. Several were taped to walls and lampposts around the Capitol complex.
“We put those flyers up because this has gotten absurd,” a spokesperson for SAM, an anti-Trump political organization, wrote in a Substack post on Wednesday.
“For more than a month now, the senior senator from Kentucky has not cast a vote, has not appeared for the work of the chamber, and has not, in any provable or functional sense, represented the four and a half million people who sent him there,” the spokesperson added.During an appearance on The Daily Beast podcast, Steve Schmidt, founder of SAM, said the secrecy surrounding McConnell’s health reflects what he described as the “rotten” state of American politics.
“The lie has so strangled the truth that whether a man who served in the United States Senate since 1985… turned into a force and a joke around the world, whether he’s alive or not,” Schmidt, a former Republican, said.
“This is like the penultimate episode of a writer’s fantasy ending for Veep,” the anti-Trump/anti-MAGA Lincoln Project co-founder added.
McConnell was hospitalized on June 14 after emergency medical personnel responded to reports of an unconscious person at his home, according to a publicly available EMS dispatch record.
In the weeks that followed, the senator’s office released few details about his condition.
His staff, led by Terry Carmack, repeatedly issued the same statement, saying only that McConnell “appreciates the outpouring of support” as he continued receiving treatment.
As public concern over his health grew, McConnell’s office released a photograph on July 12 showing him in the hospital with his wife, Elaine Chao, holding a copy of that morning’s Washington Post.
The image, however, prompted questions about its authenticity, including from some fellow Republicans.
A second photograph of McConnell, showing him smiling while seated beside his wife, Elaine Chao, was released on Monday. The image was accompanied by a statement from the senator’s office in which McConnell said he is “working hard to get back to my full schedule” in the Senate.
McConnell’s physician also said the 84-year-old senator continues to undergo a “strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation” following his discharge from the hospital.
Now, Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is demanding McConnell either verbally address constituents to prove he can still serve or resign his seat.
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In a letter to McConnell and his staff, Beshear insisted on greater transparency after the senator’s prolonged absence following a fall.
The letter, first reported by Axios, was also copied to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
