Nancy Pelosi Secures Another Term as Speaker, as Senate Hangs in Balance

Democrats returned Representative Nancy Pelosi of California to the House speakership on Sunday for what may be her final term, handing a tested leader control of the slimmest majority in almost two decades as Washington prepares for a new Democratic president.

The nearly party-line vote punctuated an opening day marked more by precaution than pomp, as the 117th Congress convened under the threat of a deadly pandemic and awaited a pair of Senate runoffs in Georgia that will determine control of that chamber.

Several House members sick with Covid-19 missed the session altogether and others cast their votes from behind a plexiglass enclosure specially constructed in a gallery overlooking the chamber.

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The House voted 216-209 for Pelosi over Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) with three members voting “present.” In a stark difference from previous elections, there were hardly any defections from either party, as members such as Reps. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.) broke tradition and voted for Pelosi.