Rep. Nancy Pelosi[1] took the reins of power again Thursday as the House elected her speaker for the 116th Congress, ushering in a new era of Democratic control and creating a new check on President Trump[2].
The 220-192 vote marked a relatively narrow victory after a rocky path back to the speakership for the California Democrat, who had to cut deals to get enough Democrats to return her to a post she first held from 2007 to 2011.
She again becomes the highest-ranking woman in American politics and is still the only female to hold the speaker’s post. And she is the first person to return to a speakership since Sam Rayburn in 1955.
Mrs. Pelosi[3] appeared relaxed ahead of the vote as she exchanged pleasantries and hugs with fellow members and other well-wishers on the House floor, on the first day of the new Congress.
Mrs. Pelosi[4] and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy were the only two candidates who were formally nominated for the post, though more than a dozen members voted for other people.
Others receiving votes included GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Thomas Massie, Democratic Reps. Cheri Bustos, Marcia Fudge, John Lewis, Joseph Kennedy, and Stephanie Murphy, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
The speaker of the House does not have to be a current member of Congress.
Several Democrats who had indicated they wouldn’t support Mrs. Pelosi[5] for the position also voted “present.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries officially nominated Mrs. Pelosi[6] for the post, which prompted cheers and a standing ovation from the Democratic side of the chamber and a smattering of some polite applause from the Republican side.
Mr. Jeffries said
Mrs. Pelosi[7] has a legislative track record “that is unparalleled in modern American history.”“
Nancy Pelosi[8] is just getting started,” said Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrat.She replaces former Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who opted not to run for re-election in 2018.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who chairs the House GOP conference, nominated Mr. McCarthy — generating the opposite reaction from both sides of the chamber that Mr. Jeffries had prompted with the nomination of
Mrs. Pelosi[9]. Mrs. Pelosi[10] will assume her post amid the backdrop of a partial shutdown of the federal government - the product of a dispute between Democrats and President Trump[11] over funding for Mr. Trump[12]’s desired U.S.-Mexico border wall.House Democrats plan to pass legislation on Thursday that would fund eight of nine shuttered departments through Sept. 30, and Homeland Security through Feb. 8.
But the White House has already rejected that plan, saying it falls short on...