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What Pelosi Has Promised to Win Speaker Votes

The next speaker will be elected on Jan. 3. To muster enough support, Nancy Pelosi is striking deals with members of her caucus. Here are some of those bargains.

Representative Nancy Pelosi has quietly campaigned in recent weeks to win over Democratic dissidents.Credit...Erin Schaff for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Representative Nancy Pelosi overwhelmingly won the Democratic nomination last month to be speaker, but the defection of 32 Democratic dissidents left her short of the votes she would need to win the gavel in January, when she can lose only 17.

In the weeks since, Ms. Pelosi — renowned for her ability to arm-twist and wheedle — has quietly campaigned to pick off members of the rebel faction, cutting deals and negotiating compromises to capture 218 pledges of support, and on Wednesday, she struck her most significant deal yet.

Here are some of the deals that Ms. Pelosi has reached with members of her caucus.


In her most consequential compromise that could secure her the speakership, Ms. Pelosi agreed to relinquish the gavel after four years, a deal devised to appease dissidents who have resolutely maintained the party needs new leadership. She had previously argued that imposing term limits on herself would weaken her hand. But in agreeing to do so, she will pick up seven votes, including Representatives Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Bill Foster of Illinois, Linda Sánchez of California, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Tim Ryan of Ohio, Filemon Vela of Texas and Representative-elect Gil Cisneros of California. More are likely to follow.

In winning over the Problem Solvers Caucus, Ms. Pelosi picked up eight votes, including Representatives Daniel Lipinski of Illinois, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Stephanie Murphy of Florida, tidily eliminating one of her major obstacles.

Ms. Fudge, 66, was the only representative to publicly consider challenging Ms. Pelosi, Democrat of California, for speaker. But Ms. Pelosi picked her off by resurrecting the elections subcommittee and promising to name Ms. Fudge as its chairwoman.

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Representative Marcia Fudge, Democrat of Ohio, was promised the post of chairwoman to the elections subcommittee. Credit...Erin Schaff for The New York Times

After she embraced his priorities, Mr. Higgins reversed his opposition to Ms. Pelosi just two days after he signed onto a letter with 15 other Democrats calling for new leadership.

Mr. Lynch had previously hinted that he could be persuaded to vote for Ms. Pelosi.

As part of their agreement, Ms. Pelosi promised to prioritize a working-class agenda, including overhauling pension policy and a major infrastructure-building initiative, as well as promoting college affordability and protecting Social Security and Medicare. Mr. Lynch also extracted a promise that Ms. Pelosi would empower the national security subcommittee on House Oversight, which he is in line to lead.

Their deal means that he can promote his infrastructure victory, and she has one fewer vote to worry about.

Julie Hirschfeld Davis contributed reporting.

Catie Edmondson is a reporter in the Washington bureau, covering Congress. More about Catie Edmondson

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