Ahead of House Democrats’ leadership elections, the Californian was approached about giving her tenure an expiration date. She wouldn’t budge.
Around lunchtime on Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi gathered in her Capitol office with three of her harshest critics.
Representatives Seth Moulton, Kathleen Rice, and Tim Ryan were the de facto leaders of a coterie of House Democrats trying to prevent Pelosi from becoming speaker in the next Congress. For two months, the group has broadcast their desire for new leadership, many of them adamant that under no circumstances would they support the California Democrat in an internal caucus vote or on the House floor.
But on Wednesday, they came ready to make a deal—one that would quickly come to nothing.
According to two senior House Democratic aides briefed on the meeting, Moulton, Rice, and Ryan told Pelosi they would ensure her the speakership if she agreed to a firm term limit. Anti-Pelosi lawmakers had grown more and more uncertain that a viable challenger would step forward before the January floor vote. So in the last week, a few of them came up with the proposal; delivering her the speakership, but with an expiration date attached, would be their best chance at reshaping their leadership.
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Moulton, Rice, and Ryan strode out of Pelosi’s quarters less than half an hour later, refusing to discuss the conversation with reporters. And as they headed into the caucus’s leadership elections later in the afternoon, all three declined to say whether they still planned to vote against Pelosi.
Soon after, a statement from Rice on behalf of the group hit reporters’ inboxes. “Moments ago we met with Leader Pelosi and tried to engage her in a reasonable conversation about leadership transition,” Rice said. “Unfortunately, our concerns were dismissed outright. We remain united behind our goal of new leadership and intend to vote against Leader Pelosi in Caucus and on the Floor of the House.
