Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, recently announced that she will be running for reelection in the upcoming 2022 midterms despite previously vowing to step down as the leader of House Democrats after the 2022 election.
The Democrat's announcement comes as the party faces a grim reality coming into the midterm elections with a double-digit deficit in a poll against the Republican party. In a Twitter post on Tuesday where Pelosi announced her plans, she said that the upcoming election was crucial and noted that Democracy was at stake.
Nancy Pelosi's Reelection
After the 2020 election, the speaker said that there was a move to "put limits on the leadership and the chairs of the committees." Pelosi made the remarks after being asked how long she was planning on staying the leader of House Democrats.
The GOP is currently expected to gain back majority control of the House after struggling for a year with United States President Joe Biden. The Democratic leader's approval rating plummeted in 2021 after the controversial end of the war in Afghanistan, surging COVID-19 cases, and surging inflation, Fox News reported.
Pelosi's announcement aims to extend her more than 30-year run in Congress and comes as the Democrat requested support from the American public. But the speaker's Twitter announcement did not detail whether or not she was running for reelection in her position.
On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee announced his retirement at the end of this Congress, becoming the latest lawmaker among the left to do so, and makes him the 29th Democrat to retire at the end of this term. However, Pelosi is seen as a crucial asset to aiding Democrats to maintain control of the authority in the United States due to being a prolific fundraiser and experience as a deal maker.
Pelosi is also struggling to grapple with how the slim Democratic majority in Congress has prevented the party from passing key pieces of legislation in Biden's agenda. While the speaker was able to finesse the bipartisan infrastructure bill through Congress, Biden's social safety net plan, the Build Back Better legislation, and key voting rights legislation have been stalled in the Senate, CNN reported.
Democrats' Deficit
In a recent poll, Republicans enjoyed a double-digit enthusiasm advantage over Democrats, with 61% of GOP officials saying they were interested in the upcoming midterms. On the other hand, only 47% of Democrats had the same level of interest.
Previous midterm cycles; 2006, 2010, 2014, or 2018, have seen that the party that had a double-digit advantage in enthusiasm ended up making substantial gains. Furthermore, overall enthusiasm for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections went down from 59% to 51% in the most recent poll.
Some of the largest deficits came from key segments of the Democratic base, including Black voters, young voters, and urban voters. One key thing to note is that the poll was conducted from Jan. 14 to Jan. 18, which was a week of demoralizing news for Democrats as Republicans in the Senate worked on blocking the voting rights legislation, NBC News reported.
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