Moulton says no deal reached with Pelosi on leadership changes

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said he and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were unable to reach a deal on  changes to her leadership team shortly after she clinched the Democratic nomination for Speaker.

Moulton and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the ringleaders of the anti-Pelosi insurgency in the House, met with the California Democrat just ahead of the Democratic caucus’s leadership elections Wednesday.

The group had attempted to recruit Rep. Marsha Fudge (D-Ohio) to challenge Pelosi for the Speaker’s gavel, but turned instead to attempting to oust Pelosi’s top two deputies, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), from leadership after Fudge opted to endorse Pelosi just ahead of Thanksgiving break. 

Moulton and his allies argue fresh, younger voices are needed to lead the party if they are going to retain the majority. 

“Congresswoman [Kathleen] Rice, Congressman Ryan, and I were glad to accept an invitation from Leader Pelosi ahead of the Caucus vote this afternoon,” Moulton said in a statement. “As we have stated from the beginning, this has always been bigger than any one individual. It is about having a conversation, as a party, about what our future looks like and how our leadership can best reflect the House we have just won.”

Moulton said that while Pelosi won the nomination, she will face a larger hurdle in whipping the votes needed to secure the Speakership in the floor vote in January.

“The private sector, non-profit organizations, even the Republican Party, have been able to have the difficult conversations about what a plan for succession looks like. No one wants to see this civil conversation spill into a floor fight. Right now, Leader Pelosi will not have the 218 votes necessary to become Speaker,” he continued.

“Her three-person leadership team has been unchanged in 11 years. Our request was, and has always been, simple. Produce a meaningful plan for a leadership transition, as you promised in the summer, to allow a new generation of leadership to step forward.”

Moulton said he is hopeful Pelosi — who has formally endorsed both Hoyer and Clyburn — will invite them back to further discuss potential changes.