Nancy Pelosi has big problems in her ranks.

The California lawmaker is facing some of the most serious unrest she’s ever seen in her dozen years as the leader of the House Democrats: Members complain that the party has no message and no clear plan to retake the majority, despite good news on the economy that should have brought rewards at the polls. They also accuse senior lawmakers of failing to pull their weight in dues as they occupy coveted committee slots.


Pelosi remains the pre-eminent force in her caucus, and nobody is stepping up to challenge her. But the heightened criticism comes at a time when she has few cards to play to win members’ loyalty, thanks to big losses in November that shrank the number of Democratic seats on highly sought-after committees.

The discontent will be at the forefront of the House Democratic Caucus’ three-day retreat this week in Philadelphia. Based on public and private conversations with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers, the complaints range from the way the party fills top committee slots to its seeming inability to craft an economic message that appealed to voters.

“What crystallizes the frustration and concern you see in the Democratic Caucus is the disconnect between the economic numbers and … the electoral numbers we’ve suffered these last six years or so,” Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes said. “So that provokes a lot of soul-searching. Do people not know what is happening in the economy? Do they not believe us that we have something to do with the recovery?”

Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly said Democrats are hungry for answers. “I think there’s a growing desire within the Democratic Caucus, at least from Democrats that I talk to, to try to get to a fundamental understanding of what went wrong, not only in this midterm but in the previous midterm, if we’re going to grow and we’re going to avoid becoming a permanent minority here in the House,” he said.

Another Democrat, speaking on background, questioned the brand of economic populism the party has been preaching.

“For me, my evangelical mission is to try to persuade Democrats that we have to pay more attention to the suburbs,” the Democrat said. “And the economic message for the suburbs has to be broader than unemployment insurance and minimum wage, although both are important. They don’t resonate in the suburbs.”

For some Democrats, a retooled message is the only way to dig themselves out of their deep hole. Nearly two dozen members of the New Democrat Coalition — a group of pro-business lawmakers — are expected to carry that plea to the retreat after House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pressured them to speak up. Coalition members often skip caucus meetings and the annual retreat but have signed up this time.

In the past, Pelosi’s stature in the caucus tamped down any dissent. She outworked, out-hustled and outmaneuvered any potential rival, and her influence — bolstered by the millions she raises for House Democrats — is still unmatched. Even after November’s losses, the Democrats unanimously elected her to continue serving as minority leader.

“You heard the vote on the floor when we were trying to elect a speaker,” said California Rep. Xavier Becerra, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus. “I think it was pretty clear, as diverse a group as Democrats are, we are very united behind Nancy Pelosi.”

But she is not as unilaterally formidable as she once was. That was shown by her failure in November to get a key ally, California Rep. Anna Eshoo, elected to the top Democratic spot on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the failed attempt to force changes to the $1.1 trillion government spending bill that Republicans crafted in December.

A handful of Democrats voted for that bill under White House pressure, but Pelosi’s office argued that she persuaded some on-the-fence Democrats to oppose the measure. And aides close to Pelosi point out that in the three weeks since the new Congress started, she’s managed to create a coalition of Democrats to beat back a number of Republican priorities and given the White House room to threaten a veto by having the votes to sustain it.

“Pelosi is invigorated by the challenge of building consensus around a new, economic message, and she’s shown her members she’s listening by bringing new blood to the table,” said a source close to Pelosi. “And with her sustaining veto threats on every key piece of the Republican agenda, there’s no question that her power and influence in this Congress has risen.”

Still, Pelosi is trying to adjust. She is taking the angst seriously and has tried to quell discontent by appointing junior members to newly created task forces, giving some fresh faces a chance to shine.

While the top four positions of Democratic leadership remained static, Pelosi made the surprising move of choosing New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Luján to run the House Democrats’ campaign arm. She also created two task forces focused on addressing the most prevalent criticisms of the Democrats’ midterm election strategy and authorized her deputies to survey members on what they want to change.

Luján said that in conversations with donors and candidates, Democrats are stressing their stark differences from Republicans on economic policies for the middle class — issues President Barack Obama touted during his State of the Union address.

“Democrats are unified around middle-class economics, and it’s where we are and it’s where we are going into the retreat and in 2016 and beyond,” Luján said.

Both of the new task forces are run by longtime Pelosi allies: Rep. Steve Israel of New York is the party’s new messaging guru, while Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina will head the so-called outreach and engagement committee. But those bodies were filled out by younger members like Rep. André Carson of Indiana, Cedric Richmond of Louisiana and Joaquin Castro of Texas.

Pelosi also tapped Himes to sit on that panel.

Even with fewer Democratic spots on House committees, Pelosi tapped a quarter of the sophomore class to serve on the so-called A-list panels, an aide said.

Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, who was named to the Education and the Workforce Committee during his freshman year, defended Pelosi and said she made an effort to get him onto his first-choice panel.

“No freshman was on it until I was put on it last year, and now I’ve moved up like five slots in seniority, so that is exactly what I wanted,” Pocan said.

Still, the discontent is widespread.

Younger members erupted during a Ways and Means meeting this month over committee spots and dues. Reps. Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Linda Sánchez of California and Mike Thompson of California openly complained in the closed-door meeting that they are stymied from moving up the ranks by senior members like Charles Rangel of New York and Jim McDermott of Washington, who didn’t meet their goals for contributing dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the past cycle.

Members are also openly musing about changing the party’s rule on term limits. Kind and Himes, two leaders of the New Democrat Coalition, are part of a growing cadre of members who want a three-term cap on how long members can serve in the ranking-member spot.

Discussion of the party’s rules has grown so widespread that Rep. Karen Bass of California, chairwoman of the Democrats’ governing committee, will hold meetings in the next few weeks to examine the party’s structure. Bass said the discussion won’t center on term limits, but a number of lawmakers called that a key priority for them going into the meetings.

“I think this has always been something of an issue that comes up every few years, so I am not surprised people are talking about it,” said New York Rep. Joe Crowley, the vice chairman of the caucus. He said he is withholding judgment on term limits until he sees what Bass’ committee discovers.

But even discussing term limits in an official capacity is likely to create major drama. The debate will pit younger and more recently elected members against powerful voting blocs like the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Those two groups have long relied on seniority to gain seats on influential committees and will not be apt to turn over key slots now.

North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield, chairman of the Black Caucus, said African-American members plan to “express ourselves very loudly” during the term limit debate. He called the timing of the discussion “very interesting.”

“We’re now at a phase that many of our CBC members hold senior positions within the caucus, and we’re beginning to get ranking member positions all over the caucus — and why now?” Butterfield said. “It has worked well over the years. Why revisit it now and cause divisions within the Democratic Caucus?”

Pelosi has stayed mum on term limits, although Eshoo has heartily endorsed the change.

If Pelosi were to endorse term limits, it could reopen the tension that arose when she pushed Eshoo for the ranking slot on Energy and Commerce. Minority members concerned about preserving seniority successfully rallied around Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, who outranked Eshoo on the dais.

One Democratic lawmaker complained that Hoyer didn’t do more to challenge Pelosi and her allies over ranking member positions. That Democrat added that the entire leadership team seems “more entrenched then ever,” despite the pummeling the party took on Election Day.

“Didn’t you think it’s time to throw caution to the wind a little bit?” this lawmaker asked. “I’m not asking people to ruin their careers. But they should be willing to risk a little more.”

John Bresnahan contributed to this report.