U.S. House Democrats delay leadership vote - Democratic aide
By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi agreed on Tuesday to postpone the party's leadership elections until Nov. 30, after some Democrats pressed for time to assess why the party fell short last week in elections that allowed Republicans to take the White House and keep their grip on Congress. Democratic aides and a lawmaker said Pelosi made the announcement "after protracted discussion" in a closed-door Democratic caucus meeting. The leadership elections, in which Pelosi may face a challenger, had been expected to take place on Thursday. "We've been through hell," Pelosi told lawmakers, according to a Democratic aide who was in the room but spoke on condition of anonymity. "And it’s only going to get worse as he (Trump) makes his appointments and we have this fight. But we have to see it as an opportunity." Pelosi, who has been the House Democrats' leader for 14 years and speaker of the House part of that time, said she did not care when the election was. "I do care that we have the strongest possible leadership at the table, whoever that may be," she said. Voters who elected Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 also gave Democrats a few more seats in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives and the 100-member Senate but Republicans kept their majorities in both. Representative Seth Moulton and other Democrats dismayed by the election results had urged Pelosi to postpone the leadership election. "As we begin the 115th Congress, House Democrats must take the time to reflect on the message the American people sent us last Tuesday," Moulton said in a statement after the caucus. "Delaying the vote on leadership positions is the necessary first step to have that conversation," he said. "The American people cried out last week and we've got to listen." Representative Tim Ryan, 43, is weighing a run against Pelosi, 76, Ryan’s spokesman Michael Zetts said on Monday. “He is concerned that if changes aren’t made we will be in the political wilderness for many years to come,” Zetts said. Ryan has been in the House since 2003. A Democratic lawmaker who declined to be named said Ryan would represent a new generation. "I think a lot of us feel the landscape has changed," he said. "We need people who can learn new tricks and not do things the way they have been done that last 20 or 30 years." (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Trott)
