The Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives in the US midterm election November 6, making what now appears to be a gain of 40 seats from the Republicans, the largest Democratic victory since the 1974 election held after Republican President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal.
Some 61 new Democratic representatives have arrived on Capitol Hill, including 31 who defeated Republican incumbents, 12 who won Republican seats left vacant by retirement, 17 who won Democratic-held seats where the incumbent retired, and two—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley—who defeated incumbent Democrats in a primary challenge.
Yet despite the turnover of more than one quarter of its membership, the first meeting of the House Democratic Caucus reelected the top three leaders without opposition. The 78-year-old Nancy Pelosi, who has led the House Democrats since 2002, was nominated for House speaker by a vote of 203-32. Steny Hoyer, 79, Pelosi’s deputy since 2002, was elected House majority leader by acclamation. James Clyburn, 78, the third-ranking Democrat since 2006, was elected House majority whip by acclamation.
The reelection of the Pelosi-Hoyer-Clyburn leadership is a reaffirmation by the congressional Democrats that there will be no significant change in the program, tactics or strategy of the Democratic Party, despite the overwhelming anti-Trump vote on November 6. By one tally, a record 111 million people voted in the midterms, and they gave a nine million-vote majority to Democratic candidates over their Republican opponents.
Far from taking this vote as a mandate to oppose the Trump administration’s right-wing policies, let alone move towards confronting Trump directly over his attacks on democratic rights, persecution of immigrants and moves towards economic warfare and outright military conflict, the Pelosi leadership has been at pains to declare its determination to cooperate and collaborate with the White House wherever possible.
Pelosi preached conciliation with Trump as soon as the scale of the Democratic victory November 6 became apparent. She has repeatedly offered to work with the administration on issues like infrastructure spending, prescription drug prices and measures to defend the US election machinery from supposed cyber-attacks by Russia, China or Iran.
And following her insistence during the election campaign that Trump’s barbaric treatment of immigrants was a “diversion” from the real issues, she has remained virtually silent as Trump has ordered the teargasing of women and children on the border, the building of concentration camps and an effective end to the right of asylum, while mobilizing the military to enforce this regime of terror and intimidation.