Rep. Tim Ryan picked up a couple more endorsements and insisted he’s within “striking distance” in his bid to become House Democrats’ leader, but Rep. Nancy Pelosi remains the clear favorite heading into a vote Wednesday that will decide who steers the caucus going forward.
Reps. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Ruben Gallego of Arizona jumped aboard Mr. Ryan’s insurgent bid, following in the footsteps of Reps. Stephen F. Lynch from Massachusetts and Daniel Lipinski of Illinois, who lined up behind the Ohio Democrat on Monday.
“At this critical juncture, we face a choice — will we preserve a broken status quo or will we set our party on a new course?” Mr. Gallego said in a statement. “I believe we must do more than simply paper over the cracks. We can’t just say the right things — we must take concrete steps to move our party in the right direction. That’s why I’m proud to announce my support for Congressman Tim Ryan for Democratic Leader.”
After a grim Election Day that saw the party net only a handful of seats in the House — far short of the 30 needed to retake control — Democrats are plotting their path forward.
Mrs. Pelosi, who has ruled over the Democratic caucus since 2003, has offered some structural changes and vowed to listen to new lawmakers, but is still seen as a status quo pick for a party that, according to some members, needs to find new ways to reach working-class voters.
“To take on the new challenges posed by President-elect Donald Trump, we must put ourselves in the best possible position for 2018,” Mr. Moulton said Tuesday on Twitter.
Mr. Ryan’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment clarifying how many members are backing him, and only a small fraction of the House Democratic Caucus has publicly declared its support for the Ohioan, who nonetheless predicted that “a lot of people are going to be surprised tomorrow.”
“We are within striking distance,” he told CNN.
The secret ballot caucus vote is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Mrs. Pelosi has tried to quash the Ryan-led rebellion by claiming earlier this month that she has the support of two-thirds of the caucus.
She also has announced plans to give less experienced members a larger voice in leadership and on committees by reserving positions for Democrats who have served less than five terms.
And she has dismissed Mr. Ryan’s argument that she is trying to consolidate power — in part by refusing to make the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats, an elected, rather than appointed, position.
“It’s so completely not true that it’s almost pathetic,” Mrs. Pelosi said during an interview this week with The Huffington Post in which she criticized Mr. Ryan for not being able to carry his congressional district for Hillary Clinton.
Mrs. Pelosi rose to become the first female speaker of the House in 2007 and went on to pursue an aggressive agenda that came back to haunt the party in the 2010 midterm elections, when Republicans took over the House. Despite the losses at the polls, she easily overcame a challenge from then-North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler, who argued then the party had to move in a more moderate direction to regain its footing.
Six years later Mr. Ryan is making a similar case, arguing the party needs an economic message that resonates with blue-collar voters.
“This election is not going to be won at fundraisers on the coasts,” Mr. Ryan told The Wall Street Journal last week. “It’s going to be won in union halls in the industrial Midwest and fish fries in the Midwest and the South.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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