Breaking: Marsha Fudge (D-OH) has just released a statement saying that she won't be challenging Nancy Pelosi for Speaker.
#TuesdayThoughts #TeamPelosi #116thCongress
#TuesdayThoughts #TeamPelosi #116thCongress
2/"BREAKING NEWS: Rep. Marcia L. Fudge endorses Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s bid for House speaker, abandons any plans to challenge longtime Democratic leader Former president Barack Obama hailed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday as “one of the most effective legislative
3/"leaders that this country’s ever seen,” praise that could boost her embattled campaign to reclaim the speaker’s gavel next year. Pelosi is fighting to repel a small group of challengers inside the Democratic caucus who want to force a leadership shake-up after 16 years with
4/"the Californian at the helm. And no living Democrat holds more influence than Obama, who signed the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and economic stimulus legislation that all passed through Pelosi’s House in 2009 and 2010.
5/"Obama prefaced his remarks, made in Chicago during the public taping of a podcast hosted by his former political adviser David Axelrod, by saying he was “not going to wade into House Democratic caucus politics.” But he then proceeded to deliver what amounted to an unqualified
6/" endorsement. “Nancy is not always the best on a cable show or with a quick sound bite or what have you,” Obama said. “But her skill, tenacity, toughness, vision, is remarkable. Her stamina, her ability to see around corners, her ability to stand her ground and do hard things
7/"and to suffer unpopularity to get the right thing done I think stands up against any person that I’ve observed or worked directly with in Washington during my lifetime.” Pelosi’s detractors have pounced on several fronts, noting that her continued presence atop the Democratic
8/" hierarchy has impeded younger leaders and that she remains a political liability for her party’s candidates in Republican-leaning districts. But Obama focused solely on her effectiveness as a congressional leader during his two terms as president. "A lot of the work of
9/"government is not flashy,” he said. “It’s a matter of competence and knowing your stuff and being willing to just do the blocking and tackling involved in actually getting things across the finish line, and my experience has been that Nancy Pelosi knows how to do that.
10/"And she was an extraordinary partner for me throughout my presidency.” Obama’s praise came on a day that a potential Pelosi challenger faced serious questions about her decision to write a letter of support in 2015 for a former judge and state senator who is now accused of
11/"killing his ex-wife. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge wrote the letter to a prosecutor as Lance Mason prepared to plead guilty to beating his then-wife, Aisha Fraser, so severely in 2014 that she required reconstructive plastic surgery. Mason, she wrote, was “a good man who made a very
12/"bad mistake.” On Saturday, Fraser was found fatally stabbed, according to news reports. Mason, who served a nine-month sentence for the earlier assault, was taken into custody and is expected to be charged in her killing. Fudge’s role in speaking on Mason’s behalf stands to
13/"complicate any potential challenge to Pelosi at a time when congressional Democrats have taken a hard line against tolerating any sort of misconduct toward women. In the House, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) resigned last year and Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.) chose not to run
14/" for reelection after facing pressure following sexual harassment allegations. In a statement released by her office Tuesday, Fudge said that her “heart breaks” for Fraser and her family. “My support of Lance in 2015 was based on the person I knew for almost 30 years — an
15/"accomplished lawyer, prosecutor, state legislator and judge. That’s the Lance Mason I supported,” she said. “The person who committed these crimes is not the Lance Mason familiar to me. They were horrific crimes, and I condemn them. I and everyone who knew Aisha are mourning
16/"her loss.” Her office did not respond to a question about how the revelations would bear on her decision to run for speaker. Fudge is serving her fifth term representing the 11th Congressional District centered on Cleveland; she is a former mayor of Warrensville Heights,
17/"Ohio. But her advocacy for an admitted domestic abuser stands to alienate a broad swath of her Democratic colleagues, including the scores of women who will be part of the party caucus next year. On Tuesday, Pelosi’s allies quietly made colleagues and reporters aware of
18/"Fudge’s role in advocating for Mason, who had returned to a position of public trust earlier this year as a Cleveland city official. In the 2015 letter, obtained by a reporter for WOIO-TV in Cleveland, Fudge said Mason’s assault on Fraser was “out of character and totally
19/"contrary to everything I know about him.” “Lance accepts full responsibility for his actions and has assured me that something like this will never happen again,” she wrote. If Fudge opts not to run for speaker, the cadre of Pelosi opponents would be forced to find another
20/"standard-bearer to try to depose the longtime Democratic leader. Sixteen Democrats signed a letter Monday vowing to oppose Pelosi in a party nominating contest next week as well as during a floor vote scheduled for Jan. 3, while four more Democrats who did not sign the letter
21/"said they remained opposed to her. Together, those members could block Pelosi from taking the speaker’s gavel if they maintain their opposition. But Pelosi is working to convince and cajole members, with the help of her allies in the House and from major Democratic players
22/"off Capitol Hill. Pelosi on Tuesday continued to rack up support, winning the votes of two incoming freshmen — Reps.-elect Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Harley Rouda (Calif.). “We need leaders who have experience, who have a proven track record of uniting people, bringing wide-
23/"ranging opinions to the table and getting the votes we need to win,” Omar said in a statement. “Divisions within our own party and public disputes over leadership will only hurt our efforts to get our country and our government back on the right course.” ~WaPo, 11/20/18
