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BY SOPHIE DORF-KAMIENNY | The top House Democrat since 2003 and the only woman to ever serve as speaker, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won a fourth term as leader of the House on Sunday, Jan. 3, in a 216-209 partisan vote.
Pelosi’s re-election marks an important milestone in U.S. history: Come Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, both people next in line for presidential succession will be women—Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and Speaker Pelosi.
But Pelosi’s upcoming term is likely to be tumultuous. With the Democratic majority in the House falling from 237 to 222, and the Senate balance yet to be decided by Georgia’s Jan. 5 runoff election, Pelosi is likely to continue facing obstruction from Republicans. This is of particular concern in early 2021, as Congress continues to clash over its COVID-19 legislative response.
In her speech accepting the position of House Speaker, Pelosi directly addressed COVID—an elephant in the room given that Republicans and Democrats clashed over mask wearing. In fact, on a call ahead of the vote, Pelosi said her real opponent in the race for speaker was the virus itself, as Democrats initially feared that illness could have prevented key members from participating in the vote. Ultimately, all representatives wore masks for safety, and voted in-person in waves of approximately 72 members at a time, to avoid crowding the chamber. (Click here to read the rest of this article on MsMagazine.com.)
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