Thursday at her weekly press briefing, Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said GOP attacks against her leadership during congressional races were due to Republicans being opposed to her hometown San Francisco, LGBT and “poor children.”

On Democrat Conor Lamb’s victory, Pelosi said, “So it was a very issues-oriented campaign. As part of it, was millions of dollars that’s coming in from the Koch brothers, and that will happen all over the country, demonizing me as the leader of the Democratic Party. I just wanted him to win. I don’t think that really had that much impact on the race. He won. If he hadn’t won, you might have a question, but we won. We won the race.”

She continued, “I don’t think your opponents should choose your party leaders. I think that we have an important case to make. They are coming after me because of my city, and they are against LGBT, and they are against poor children. That has been my mantra, the poor children of America that I am here to support. Yes, I am a liberal.”

She added, “This is part of the bankruptcy of the Republican party. They are devoid of ideas about how they are going to meet the needs of the American people. So it’s an ad hominem. They can’t win on the issues, so they go after a person. I feel pretty confident about my ability to, first and foremost, be a master legislator for the good of the American people. I have proven that. But what you’ve done is not why you should go forward. Why you should go forward is what are you going to do next. We have a very positive agenda about how to take back the Congress for the Democrats. I have a strong following in the country, and I don’t think that the Koch brothers should decide who the leader of the Democratic Party is in the House.”

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