House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi fires up fellow Democrats at an election night rally at the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 7, 2006. They've faced competitive challenges in four Republican-leaning congressional districts in 2017, including a surprisingly close race in South Carolina Tuesday.
But it remains to be seen how aggressively Democrats will make a play for a district in which they just dumped millions of dollars and came up short. Republicans - including President Donald Trump - have professed their glee that she's still minority leader.
"When you have the president of the United States - who is a Republican - saying please let [Pelosi] stay, I don't know how much clearer it can be that you are on the wrong side of this", Williams said.
Up until the second the polls closed, Democrats and their cheerleaders in the media were calling the Handel-Ossoff race an important referendum on the Trump presidency.
As President Donald Trump celebrated Republican victories in two special congressional elections on Wednesday, one man who advised presidents from both parties warned the results "should be a wake-up call for Democrats" that Trump could be on his way to re-election in 2020.
Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela: Pelosi 'doesn't help our candidates'
Ossoff, billed by some Democrats as a 30-year-old boy wonder , ran more or less the same as Hillary Clinton did against Mr. She's the ultimate expression of "San Francisco values", and nobody's buying those anywhere but in San Francisco.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who also attended the meeting, said, "in every corner of our caucus, we're concerned". And the New York Times' Jeremy Peters stated that Democrats "have not figured out" that "it is not just enough to be against Trump" and that this "did not work as a motivating factor for Ossoff voters". So it's time for change. I'm a strategic, politically astute leader. "This is about being able to take the Democratic party in a direction that is actually going to help us win seats and get back into the majority". "One of the disappointing things from the last couple days is that that approach has a little bit of punch to it, it still moves voters".
But Pelosi continues to command great loyalty from many in the House, and she insisted her position was not in jeopardy.
Republicans, on the other hand, want Pelosi to keep her job. The Iraq war veteran endorsed eight veterans running for the House this week, and started a new national security task force with other young veterans within the Democratic caucus. "I don't think any party should allow the opposite party to choose their leaders". Then Maslin laughed and added, "If we had won, by the way, it would have been an quake". The special election was held to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price after Trump appointed him as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The question of whether the Democratic Party can succeed in district races preoccupies many, including the San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board.
"She's easy to demonize. I need to step back and do what's best for this party", said Rice.
But members of the rank-and-file are dissatisfied with that rationalization - and some are arguing for a new message and approach ahead of the midterms.
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