James Clyburn Floats Replacing Nancy Pelosi as Speaker

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, says he is ready to succeed House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as Speaker of the House if their party wins a House majority in November.

Appearing before the Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s policy conference in Tunica, Mississippi, on August 10, Clyburn, 78, spoke of a possible bid to replace Pelosi, 78, who occupies the Democrat Party’s top spot in the House. “I’m very much up for it,” Clyburn, who would become the first African-American Speaker in American history if successful, told McClatchy DC on the sidelines of the annual forum. “Trump asked the question about himself, ‘What do I have to lose?’” the lawmaker asked.

Clyburn claims he will not challenge Pelosi for the leadership post and would only assume the role if the embattled California lawmaker failed to secure the support needed to regain the gavel. However, if the Republicans hold on to their majority, “all of us have got to go,” Clyburn said of Democrats in an interview with Politico following his annual “Jim Clyburn’s World Famous Fish Fry” in Columbia.

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