The Key to Nancy Pelosi’s Legislative Agenda
The House speaker needs to keep her caucus in line while preparing the party for 2020.
House Democratic leader Pelosi on Jan. 2, 2019, the day before being sworn in as speaker.
Photographer: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be a polarizing figure on the national stage, but virtually everyone in Washington agrees that she’s a master strategist. As the Democratic Party has gone from the majority to the minority and back again, Pelosi has consistently worked behind the scenes to keep her bloc united and its legislative agenda intact.
That political skill will be tested over the next two years. Pelosi must find a way to hold her fractious coalition together while positioning Democrats to recapture the Senate and the White House in 2020. Adding to her challenge, there are now cameras and smartphones in the proverbial backroom broadcasting White House meetings and live-tweeting the political process. To build on Democrats’ success in last year’s midterm elections, the 78-year-old legislator from San Francisco will have to keep the congressional agenda focused on the issues that got this year’s crop elected in the first place.