Pelosi has downplayed any talk of friction with her newest members. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Dem frosh defy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi has worked overtime to help elect Democrats like Dan Maffei in order to grow her party’s House ranks — and get herself back in the speaker’s chair.

So how has Maffei thanked the House minority leader and other top Democrats now that he’s back in Washington?


By voting less with House Democrats than any other member of the 50-member Democratic freshmen class, according to a survey of all 436 House votes this year. On a recent bill to delay for one year the employer and individual mandates outlined in Obamacare — Pelosi and President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment — Maffei crossed the aisle and voted with Republicans.

( PHOTOS: Nancy Pelosi’s career)

Maffei wasn’t the only freshman Democrat to defy Pelosi on the health care votes. Fourteen Democratic freshmen joined with dozens of their veteran Democratic colleagues and Republicans in calling for a one-year delay in both the employer and individual mandates. These defections came despite repeated — and sometimes emotional — lobbying by Pelosi, who accused these Democrats of “undermining” her and Obamacare, said several lawmakers and aides.

Maffei, a former House staffer, is unrepentant. “What my constituents tell me and what best helps the community I represent is how I decide to vote,” Maffei said in a statement to POLITICO . “The people of Central New York have made it clear to me that the most important issues are growing our middle class, spurring our local economy, and creating more jobs across the region.”

Other junior Democrats, many in tough-to-hold swing seats, are also opposing party leaders on a number of key votes. A POLITICO analysis found a group of eight to 10 Democratic frosh going their own way on key issues, with or without the blessing of leadership.

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Their actions show these Democrats are following the oldest rule in politics — make sure you get reelected first, and worry about party politics second.

Pelosi needs to pick up 17 seats in the 2014 midterms get her back in the speaker’s chair. However, there is no indication that House Democrats will be able to do that, at least not based on recent polls, the makeup of House districts potentially in play next year, and the history of the “six-year itch” for incumbent presidents. Current projections have Democrats picking up several seats to losing as many as seven of them. An internal DCCC analysis has Democrats suffering double-digit losses if Obama’s popularity keeps sliding and the economy falters.

All of which could lead freshmen Democrats — and some of their more experienced colleagues — to pay more attention to their own political future than leadership wants. Pelosi may or may not be minority leader in the next Congress, but if these Democrats want to keep their own seats, they better tread carefully.

“They’re saying, ‘I need to come back in 2014, so I better watch my own ass,’” a senior House Democrat said about the frosh defectors.

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Publicly, Pelosi downplays any talk of friction with her newest members, and she has worked hard to address their fears that Obamacare — or the president’s slumping poll numbers — will hurt them in the midterm elections.

Pelosi and other party leaders, including DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.), have warned their freshmen that the worst mistake they can make is being inconsistent in their votes, flip-flopping from an earlier position. In freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy’s (D-Fla.) case, for instance, the National Republican Congressional Committee hammered him for being a “hyprocrite” by voting for the Obamacare mandate delays but opposing ouright repeal.

But Pelosi and other top Democrats have been clearly frustrated with the way some of their members have voted this year. On the House floor, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) openly berated members who backed the GOP bill to delay the Obamacare mandates, according to several members. Pelosi was upset as well, but she kept her complaints to private meetings, these sources said.

“She was really angry,” said a top Democratic aide. “I haven’t seen her that mad in awhile.”

Freshman Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) broke ranks with his leadership to support Republicans on both mandate delays and the Homeland Security appropriations bill.

“I always put the people of my district above partisanship and I put solutions above ideology and I serve them and that’s why I’m here,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz ignored questions about whether Democratic leaders were upset with his votes.

“I’m just grateful that people believe that I can get the job done for them and that’s what I’m here for,” Ruiz said.

Rep. Joe Garcia, a first-term Florida Democrat, voted with Republicans to delay both the business and individual mandates in Obamacare. Garcia said part of his concern is that the governor in his state, Florida, hasn’t set up exchanges.

And while Pelosi and other party leaders might not be happy, Garcia said he votes first for his district.

“People don’t come to Washington to be Democrats or Republicans — in life I’ve always find there are two ways to do things … it’s the right way or the wrong way, and I vote for the right way,” Garcia said. “I respect them making points, but I’m not going to make points, I’m going to make good law.”

“The big votes that we’ve had, I scrutinize and analyze very carefully,” said Murphy, who switched parties in 2011 before winning his House seat. Murphy voted to delay the Obamacare mandates despite siding with Pelosi against a GOP plan to repeal the entire bill.

“To be honest, I guess, there has been some pressure at times from leadership… I’m an independent voice, I’m an independent thinker. I’m going to do what I think is best for my constituents and the country,” Murphy added.

Other freshmen who have broken with Democratic leaders on key votes include Reps. Cheri Bustos (Ill.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Ami Bera (Calif.), Julia Brownley (Calif.), Bill Enyart (Ill.), Pete Gallego (Texas), Scott Peters (Calif.) and Sean Maloney (N.Y.), among others.

A Pelosi aide also notes that voting against the party’s priorities can hurt members with labor unions and other progressive groups that have strongly backed Obamacare and other progressive priorities.

But Pelosi aides flatly dimiss any claim that she’s “freezing out” members or sidelining them if they vote against her wishes.

“Leader Pelosi tells all members that your title and job responsibilities are one in the same: representative,” said Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s communications director.

Pelosi recently called a special meeting of Democratic freshmen to hear from Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, on how to address Obamacare critics. With polls backing them up, Pelosi and the White House have embraced the “Fix it, don’t repeal it” mantra for dealing with Obamacare’s implementation problems and challenges.

And Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also shepherded about 30 freshmen down to the White House this week to meet with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Obama also dropped in on the session.

“We had the chief of staff and the president of the United States, say if you think there is something we can do better, if you think we need to make changes, we’re here,” said Garcia.

Democratic aides also note — accurately — that Pelosi doesn’t face near the challenges that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has to deal with among his rank-and-file. About 60 to 70 hard-line Republicans are ready to drop the gloves with Boehner on everything from spending bills to farm programs to the National Security Agency, and they came close to removing him as speaker in January over his handling of the fiscal cliff fight with Obama. In his latest embarrassing gaffe this week, Boehner had to a pull a transportation-funding bill on Wednesday because he lacked “dozens and dozens” of GOP votes to pass it, Republican aides said.

In addition, Pelosi was able to keep her members in line on a series of votes on a number of Republican “messaging bills,” including: the 2014 budget submitted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.); a debt “prioritization” bill in case of a government default; a GOP “flex-time” proposal; Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) education bills; and a series of Obamacare repeal votes.

But the Democratic freshmen insist they will make up their own minds on big votes, not just vote how leadership tells them they should.

“There are 435 people out here. We have people with a lot of different opinions, people who represent very different districts,” said Bustos, a former reporter. “I’m here to represent the people of my district. If that’s along party lines, it will be. If it’s not along party lines, it won’t be.”

Ginger Gibson contributed to this report.