Another Democrat Says He Wouldn't Support Nancy Pelosi For House Leadership
(CBS News) — Another Democrat is adding his name to the list of those who won't vote for Nancy Pelosi to lead the party if he wins in November.
Max Rose, the Democratic nominee in New York's 11th Congressional District, told CBSN on Tuesday he will not cast his vote for the current House Democratic leader. Rose is running against Republican Rep. Dan Donovan in the only New York City congressional district President Trump won in 2016. Rose's district encompasses Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.
Asked if he would support Pelosi, Rose had a simple answer — "No."
"I believe that the Democratic Party is in urgent need of new leadership," he continued. "The party has lost the trust of voters, not only in my district, but throughout the country, and believe me, if you separate the parties and you just look at our policies — infrastructure, equitable growth, lowering per capita health care costs — those policies have massive support. But we've got to move towards being also a party that can garner people's trust and keep it, and we're not going to accomplish that without new leadership."
Rose didn't venture to say which Democrat he would support instead of Pelosi. Rose also said he dismisses the notion that his district is too conservative to flip.
"I reject the idea that my district is conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican," Rose told CBSN. "What we see consistently from Staten Islanders and folks living in southern Brooklyn is really what we see throughout the country, which is that people wanna vote for the person, not the party. They want an independent fighter, an independent leader, someone who is gonna do what they say down in Washington D.C. and they certainly haven't seen that from my opponent Dan Donovan and they haven't seen that from politicians on both sides of the aisle for more than a generation now."
A growing number of Democrats running for Congress this year are saying they wouldn't support Pelosi if they win office, and instead will push for new blood. Clarke Tucker, a Democrat hoping to take an Arkansas congressional seat held by a Republican, released an ad emphasizing that he wouldn't vote for Pelosi. Conor Lamb, the Democrat who beat Republican Rick Saccone in a Pennsylvania special election earlier this year, said he won't cast his bid for Pelosi, citing the need for new blood.
Others have been noncommittal.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star in the Democratic Party after she defeated Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" recently she wouldn't rule out supporting Pelosi, but was less than committal.
"I mean she is the current party leader, absolutely," Ocasio-Cortez told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan. "And I look forward to be parting--to be part of that conversation and, and winning back the House. There is no decision about the party leader until we win the House first."
