Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) praised House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an interview that aired Monday on “Rising,” saying she will remain Speaker for as long as she wants if Democrats take back the House in November.
“I think that she is a phenomenal Speaker,” Cummings told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons. “She knows the members. I can’t think of anybody in the House that could have seen through the passage of something like the Affordable Care Act.”
“I expect Nancy Pelosi will be Speaker, and I believe that she will be Speaker until she decides to leave,” he continued.
“Nancy has worked hard, and they tried to make her the boogie woman,” he said. “The reason why they tried to do that is because she is effective. Even under the circumstances that we’re in now, when I look at the budget that we passed, I mean the appropriations that we’re doing, clearly her leadership shines through.”
Cummings will become chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee if Democrats take back the majority in the lower chamber in November.
His comments come as Pelosi, who’s led the party for 15 years, has faced some growing opposition from Democrats calling for new blood.
While Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who unsuccessfully challenged her in 2016, and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) have been floated as potential opponents, Pelosi’s critics have yet to name an official challenger.
— Julia Manchester
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