Dem Candidates Attending Pelosi-Headlined Fundraiser Won't Commit to Voting for Pelosi as Speaker

Dems in competitive California races try to distance themselves from minority leader

Two Democratic candidates in competitive California House races were publicly trying to distance themselves from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) even as they walked into a D.C. fundraiser she was headlining last week.

California Democrat Gil Cisneros, who is running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Ed Royce, while walking up to attend the fundraiser at a Capitol Hill townhouse declined to respond when asked whether he would vote for Pelosi to keep her Democratic leadership position if he wins his congressional campaign.

Cisneros traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a July 11 fundraiser hosted by Equality California, an LGBT rights organization, which Pelosi, as well as the state's Democratic senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein, were headlining to help attract top Democratic donors to the event.

Cisneros, a Navy veteran and lottery winner, became one of the latest Democratic candidates to say he will not vote for Pelosi for speaker if his party takes back the House this fall, and Pelosi runs for the top House leadership post.

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