nancy-pelosi
Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi, who for 14 years has led the Democrats in the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday, survived a major attempt to unseat her.

The Representative from California won the vote against Representative Tim Ryan from Youngstown, Ohio. Her win over 43-years-old Ryan ordinarily seems to run against popular expectation that after a series of woeful electoral outings, Democrats in the House needed a fresh breath in the form of new leadership.

The clamour for change in the leadership of Democrats in the US Congress has been anchored on the belief that the party had lost its connection to the American working class. Indeed, Tim Ryan comes from a white–collar district in Youngstown.

Pelosi won by 134 votes to Ryan’s 63. Her victory means that at 76, Ms Pelosi still has a lot of political savvy, at least within the Democratic caucus in the House.

In the Senate, the Democrats will be led by Senator Chuck Schumer, a 66-year-old from New York who has held various leadership positions since 2005. As it is, the Democrats in the next Congress of the United States will be led by the “Coastal Democrats” whose leadership has for long been entrenched and who have had a very strong grip on the Democratic Party.

Apparently, it is the leadership of old and seasoned lawmakers among the Democrats in the House. Apart from Pelosi who is 76, there is Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland who is 77 and who was re–elected as Whip. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina who is 76 was elected as the Assistant Democratic Leader.