Player of the Week: Rep. Heath Shuler

Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) brought his then-2-year-old daughter to the House floor when Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) officially became Speaker on Jan. 4, 2007. 

Shuler knew his daughter was too young to understand the significance of Pelosi’s ascent to Speaker, according to The Thumpin’, Naftali Bendavid’s book on how Democrats won the House in 2006.

{mosads}But Shuler knew that later, “she might take pleasure from knowing she had been there,” Bendavid wrote.

Nearly four years later, Shuler is challenging Pelosi as the chamber’s top Democrat. The former Washington Redskins quarterback knows he doesn’t have the votes to challenge the California Democrat, who repeatedly predicted that Republicans would not win control of the House.

Rahm Emanuel recruited Shuler, who ended up beating Rep. Charles Taylor (R) in 2006. Pelosi sent thousands of dollars to Shuler in 2006 and 2008, but not this year.

Pelosi is undefeated in leadership races, having beaten Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in 2001 and winning the rank of minority leader a year later against then-Reps. Martin Frost (D-Texas) and Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.). 

A couple of Democrats have called for leadership elections to be postponed until next month, but that won’t happen. Pelosi will get the votes to become minority leader, though the debate on her role in the Democratic Party will continue into the next Congress.