Many months ago, I theorized that if the Democrats could win back the House in the midterms, the biggest fight would be about whether Nancy Pelosi should return as Speaker of the House. Some people argued that I was putting the cart before the horse, but I was still concerned that the Democratic Party would find some way to screw itself over with some kind of petty internecine fight. While there were some squabbles over the past few weeks, Nancy Pelosi was nominated for Speaker yesterday with a huge majority vote:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi took a major step toward a historic second turn as House speaker on Wednesday, winning a strong majority in a Democratic nominating vote after striking a deal with a group of moderate holdouts and further isolating her ragtag opposition. But Pelosi (D-Calif.) still has to persuade about half of the 32 Democrats who opposed her nomination to support her in a planned Jan. 3 floor vote in which she must win a majority of the entire House, not just Democrats. A brief meeting with leaders of the opposition Wednesday ended in acrimony.

She now has a month — plus an unmatched political network and a pile of potential chits — to chip away at the opposition. Should she prevail, Pelosi would be the first person to reclaim the speaker’s gavel in 63 years, solidifying her historical standing as the first woman to serve in the job and assuming the role of the nation’s top Democrat to counter President Trump.

[From The Washington Post]

WaPo goes on to detail all of the ways in which the Democratic caucus could still screw over Pelosi, and how much deal-making she’ll have to do in the next month. While I still believe that the Democratic Party is in need of some fresh blood in leadership positions, I’m totally fine with Pelosi returning as Speaker. She’s always been a consistently progressive/liberal voice, and she gets sh-t done. And there’s so much ageism and sexism around her, even with the media coverage:

My god. This is just so typical of the @NYTimes. Pelosi won *more* votes and had *fewer* “nos” than Ryan in 2015, but Ryan won “overwhelming support” while Pelosi had “significant defections” pic.twitter.com/nWeHsupIEW

— David Nir (@DavidNir) November 28, 2018

Speaking of sexism and ageism, Rep. Barbara Lee – a 72-year-old African-American liberal lion – was pushed out of her attempt to become the chairwoman of the House Dem Caucus. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries won that vote to become one of the most powerful Democrats in the House. Jeffries is only 48, so he’s considered a “fresh face” and he has some good liberal credentials. But Rep. Lee absolutely got screwed over.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.