“That’s the Big Fear” – Democrats Fear ‘COVID Wildcard’ Could Ruin Pelosi’s Speaker Bid

Democrat representatives fear there’s a possibility that COVID-stricken party members could be absent for the January, 3rd vote for house speaker, causing Nancy Pelosi to lose votes and ultimately lose her position.

A resolution passed by the House in May allows for absent members of the legislative body to vote remotely or vote by proxy, which would permit one present member to vote for another who is absent.

The passage of this resolution happened with the justification that the COVID pandemic created an emergency situation that could prohibit members from being present on the House floor to vote. This was the first time such a resolution was passed, and as The Heritage Foundation notes:

No crisis ever has changed that commitment. Not when the Capitol was burned to the ground during the War of 1812, not the Civil War, not the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, or even the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The unprecedented rule will go away at the start of the new year. It will not be in play for the January 3rd vote when Pelosi defends her position and there will be no chance to reinstate it as resolutions under a new congress can not be passed until there is an official speaker.

This means that House members will need to be present to have their vote counted.

House Democrats have been taking advantage of this ‘vote by proxy’ in large numbers. According to reports, 90 Dems voted by proxy on December 18th.

At the time the vote occurs, Democrats will hold only a slim majority in the chamber over Republicans with 222 members to the GOP’s 211.

Reps. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) have already said they do not plan on voting for the current speaker.

Also, Reps.-elect Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) have joined the Pelosi uncertainty pool this week when they refused to say if she would obtain their vote on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

With this in consideration and the wildcard potential of the COVID virus infecting members right before the vote, rendering them incapable of showing face on the house floor, Democrats are worried.

“COVID is a wild card,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) told The Hill. “If we have sick members who cannot come back, and we only have a four-vote majority, it throws our entire advent of the 117th Congress in peril — a smooth advent.”

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) worries that sick members could give Republicans the opportunity to vote in current minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as Speaker.

“Let’s say, just theoretically, we had six or eight people out with COVID and the Republicans have none. They probably could elect McCarthy,” Yarmuth said.

One House Democrat speaking anonymously to The Hill said this type of situtation is “a big fear.”

“We’re in a health care crisis, right? No one can get sick. That’s the X-factor here,” said the anon Democrat and apparent Pelosi ally. “We need everyone to be healthy. … That’s the big fear.”

Considering there are 5 Democrat representatives who are openly on the fence with their support for Pelosi, or have outright said she will not have their vote, the Dems will have to avoid the COVID wildcard from striking at most 7 members to defend against a unanimous GOP vote for McCarthy.

It is also unclear if Democrat Rep. Gwen Moore will make the vote since having tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. If Moore is to take the CDC’s recommendation and stay away from people for 14 days, she will miss the vote.

According to the Huffington Post‘s tally on congress members who have tested positive for COVID, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) has also been infected. Larsen’s positive came on December 23rd, meaning the congressman would have to break the CDC’s 14 day rule to make the vote on the House floor on Jan. 3rd.

If all the Democrats mentioned above do not make it to the floor or do not vote for Pelosi, a Republican unanimous vote can install a speaker.

48 members of congress in total have tested positive for the virus since March.

A March Gallup poll showed that Pelosi is unfavorable with 55% of Americans, a rate that is at its highest since her time as speaker in 2011.

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