Dems call for Pelosi to ‘pass the torch’

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, is again being called on to step down, but this time the request came from a fellow female Californian in a top congressional leadership position.

Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Whittier (Los Angeles County), the fifth-most-senior House Democrat, told C-SPAN Thursday: “I do think it’s time to pass a torch to a new generation of leaders, and I want to be a part of that transition. I think we have too many great members here that don’t always get the opportunities that they should.”

Sánchez, 49, was elected last year to be vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus, edging out Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, by two votes. She is the first woman of color to serve in a senior position.

While she singled out Pelosi, Sánchez’s comments were directed at the party’s entire House leadership team, which has been together for a decade. Other members are Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn, D-S.C. Pelosi, 77, has been in Congress for 30 years and in the House Democratic leadership for 14 years, including as the first female speaker of the House (2007-11).

The remarks reflect a growing frustration among Democrats, who have been hemorrhaging seats at all levels of government nearly everywhere except California for nearly a decade, that the party doesn’t have a coherent, appealing message. Pelosi is stuck in the middle, seen as too progressive by heartland Democrats in swing districts and too much of a corporatist by progressive Democrats, where much of the party’s current energy lies.

Thus the calls for new leadership.

Read more at The San Francisco Chronicle