Marcia Fudge said that should House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi fall short on the floor, the speakership question would come back to the caucus — when she could make a play for the job. | AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Congress Pelosi meets with Fudge and other foes amid speaker drama The House minority leader sat down with her first potential challenger to lead Democrats in the next Congress.

Nancy Pelosi sat face to face with her potential challenger, Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, on Friday as the California Democrat continued her fight to reclaim the speaker’s gavel.

The two women huddled at the behest of incoming House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a key Pelosi ally and senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus who is also close with Fudge, the CBC’s former chairwoman.


Pelosi also spent Friday afternoon meeting with incoming Democratic lawmakers who during their campaigns vowed to oppose her as speaker, including Reps.-elect Max Rose (N.Y.), Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), Mikie Sherrill (N.J.) and Haley Stevens (Mich.).

Fudge, a six-term lawmaker, said Pelosi raised the issue of possibly serving as a "transitional leader" or agreeing to serve as speaker for only one or two terms, although there was no commitment by Pelosi to that idea.

“We talked briefly about it, yes," Fudge told reporters following the 45-minute session with Pelosi. "We talked about some succession plan, and we talked about some other things. I think the biggest issue that we discussed was the feeling in the caucus of people who are feeling left out and left behind."

In an interview before she met with Pelosi, Fudge said an offer by Pelosi to limit her time as speaker — to, say, one term — could win her and other Democratic rebels over.

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"That would be strong," Fudge declared.

After Pelosi met with the incoming freshmen who had called for new leadership during their campaigns, some skeptics left the room expressing an openness to supporting her.

Stevens, for instance, said she hasn’t ruled it out, even though she said in her Democratic primary that she wouldn’t back Pelosi.

Sherrill, who also ran on a promise not to support Pelosi, hustled through a swarm of reporters and refused to answer questions about their sit-down. Pelosi allies have been trying to convince the New Jersey Democrat to vote “present” instead of opposing Pelosi on the House floor, according to multiple sources on both sides of the fight.

A present vote — while not directly in support of Pelosi — would lower the threshold for a majority on the floor, making it easier for Pelosi to win. Sherrill could tell supporters she kept her vow not to support Pelosi but not block her from getting the speaker's gavel. Sherrill wouldn't say whether she still intends to vote against Pelosi and walked into a members-only room where reporters were not allowed.

But Rose emerged from his meeting vowing to continue to oppose Pelosi.

Rose said the session was “extraordinarily civil” and that Pelosi did not ask him to change his mind. Rose said they used their time together to discuss issues important to his district, including transportation needs and help with the opioid epidemic.

“I have been so consistent and clear, and I haven’t played games with my position; it allows her to fill the discussion,” Rose said. “The only thing she offered me was a can of Coke. There was no grand offers made. No drama.”

Anti-Pelosi rebels including Rose have been circulating a letter that now includes 20 incumbents and members-elect indicating they won't vote for Pelosi on the floor, a number large enough that it would prevent her ascension to the speaker's chair and plunge the Democratic Caucus into chaos just as the party returns to power in the House.

The insurgents' threat — and Pelosi's inability so far to win them over — has turned into a serious problem for the longtime Democratic leader. Pelosi has sat atop the House Democratic Caucus since 2002.

Fudge has not formally announced her candidacy. But even floating herself as a potential speaker challenger has scrambled Pelosi's effort to lock down the 218 votes needed to win. Fudge would be the first black woman in leadership and first African-American speaker.

Fudge repeatedly said on Friday that Pelosi doesn't have the votes to win a speakership fight on the floor, stating "If the vote were taken today, she does not have the votes to be speaker of the House. I don’t think I do, either, right now."

Prior to her meeting with Pelosi, Fudge suggested she might take a few weeks to decide whether to run. Democrats are set to nominate a speaker in a closed-door caucus meeting on Nov. 28, after they return from the Thanksgiving Day recess.

But while many expected that Fudge would want to be on the ballot for that vote, Fudge said she could wait to announce her bid until after Pelosi likely wins the Democratic nomination. Pelosi needs support from only half the Democratic Caucus for that vote. The more difficult test is on Jan. 3 on the House floor, where 218 votes — or a majority of those members present and voting — are required and Pelosi has little room for error.

“I can’t even sleep, my phone is going off so much, not just from people within this institution but people outside of this institution who are excited about the possibility of change in the leadership," Fudge said. "I’m hearing it from lobbyists, from labor, from tons and tons of people, and so there’s a great deal of hope and excitement about the fact that there could be new leadership.”

Should Pelosi fail to get the votes, however, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) are expected to jump into the race for speaker, among others. Asked about her chances going up against both men, Fudge took a shot at them for being too afraid to challenge Pelosi themselves.

“Let me tell you what I think. … None of them had the courage to do what I’ve done,” she said sternly.

With her opponents continuing to work against Pelosi, the California Democrat's allies are hitting back in her defense.

Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky blasted Pelosi’s critics for defying “the majority voice of the caucus.” She suggested they are worse than the House Freedom Caucus, the group of conservative rabble-rousers who banded together to defy GOP leadership for years.

“The majority rules!” Schakowsky said, aghast. “The very idea of organizing without even an opponent. … They do not have a candidate.”