Henry Rodgers on January 3, 2019
Fifteen Democrats voted against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House Thursday afternoon, despite her call for a united vote throughout her party.
- New York Rep. Anthony Brindisi voted for former Vice President Joe Biden.
- Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper voted “present.”
- Colorado Rep. Jason Crow voted for Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
- South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham voted for Illinois Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos.
- Maine Rep. Jared Golde voted for Illinois Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos.
- Ron Kind voted for Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis.
- Georgia Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb voted for Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Joe Kennedy.
- Utah Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams voted for Democratic Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy.
- New York Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice voted for Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.
- New York Democratic Rep. Max Rose voted for Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
- Oregon Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader voted for Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge.
- New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill voted for Illinois Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos.
- Virginia Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger voted for Illinois Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos.
- Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin voted “present.”
- New Jersey Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew voted “present.”
The “present” vote makes it so the congressman would be opting to not vote for any member in the House — members were not allowed to vote “no” as it was not an option. Two other members voted “present” during the House vote for speaker. They included Cooper and Slotkin, bringing the tally to three, before receiving enough votes to become Speaker of the 116th Congress.
Pelosi wrote a letter in late December to her Democratic colleagues in Congress asking for the entire party to get behind one member for House speaker before they voted. Pelosi pushed to reclaim the seat, despite pushback from nearly 20 Democratic members in the House.
With the government partially shut down, Pelosi will have to figure out how to work with Republicans on a compromise for the border wall, although she has vehemently opposed it, calling it “immoral, ineffective and expensive.”
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