Other centrists, including actor Mark Vessey from Texas, made similar points. Rep. Debbie Mucarcel Powell, a Florida Democrat who suffered the unexpected loss of a Republican rival, argued through tears that the party’s infighting on Twitter should stop.
Meanwhile, the liberals responded. Washington’s representative, Pramila Jayapal, co-chair of Congress, Progressive Caucus, argued that Democrats should not define the people and ideas that energize the party’s base. Angered Michigan MP Rashida Tlaib, a self-described Social Democrat, accused her colleagues of only being interested in appealing to whites in the suburbs.
She said, “To be real, it sounds like you’re saying stop paying for what blacks want.”
The Democrats have been preparing for a small majority for 18 years, undermining the influence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The grudge in Thursday’s call is sure to become more apparent next year as the party faces the more difficult task of uniting to pass the legislation.
During the call, Pelosi sought to reassure its members that the election was not as bad as it seemed. She said the Democrats held about 70 percent of the 30 territories that Trump won in 2018 – and they predicted that they would likely take over the White House.
“We convened the House of Representatives. Joe Biden is on a clear path to be the next president of the United States,” she said. “We did not win every battle, but we won the war.”
Pelosi even expressed hope for control of the Senate, citing two possible rounds in Georgia where the Democrats would be extremely vulnerable.
Washington Post
