News & Politics
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in an unmistakable show of political strength Tuesday, cut a deal to sideline a potential challenger, won new confidence from her party’s resurgent left flank and earned high praise from her party’s most influential figure, former president Barack Obama. Together, the developments buoyed Pelosi as she fights to repel a small group of challengers inside the Democratic caucus who want to force a leadership shake-up after 16 years with the Californian at the helm. One of them was Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio), who left Washington last week planning to take the Thanksgiving holiday to ponder a run against Pelosi for speaker. But her dalliance ended Tuesday, when Fudge said she would support Pelosi after the minority leader agreed to make Fudge chairman of a resurrected subcommittee on elections and pledged that “the most loyal voting bloc in the Democratic Party, black women, will have a seat at the decision-making table.”