U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) is considering a bid for U.S. House Speaker, as it's not clear if the presumed Speaker-designate, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has enough votes to be elected speaker in the upcoming Congress that will be sworn into office in January of next year.
While I'm open to the idea of new leadership of the House Democrats (I believe that U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) would be a fantastic House Speaker, although, if I recall correctly, she is running for Democratic caucus chair instead of the Democratic nomination for House Speaker), nearly all of the serious opposition to Pelosi within the House Democratic caucus is ideologically to the right of Pelosi, meaning that, if Fudge or anyone else who is supported by the faction of anti-Pelosi Democrats who want to shift the Democratic Party rightward is elected Speaker, there will be immediate criticism towards Fudge or whoever else the new Speaker would be from progressives and Pelosi loyalists, two factions of the Democratic Party who don't exactly agree with each other 100% of the time.
Furthermore, and unlike most of the House Democratic Caucus, Fudge is not a staunch supporter of LGBTQ rights:
The next House Speaker must be someone who is strongly supportive of the notion that LGBTQ Americans are of equal standing to heterosexual Americans and strongly supportive of policies designed to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ Americans.
While I'm open to the idea of new leadership of the House Democrats (I believe that U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) would be a fantastic House Speaker, although, if I recall correctly, she is running for Democratic caucus chair instead of the Democratic nomination for House Speaker), nearly all of the serious opposition to Pelosi within the House Democratic caucus is ideologically to the right of Pelosi, meaning that, if Fudge or anyone else who is supported by the faction of anti-Pelosi Democrats who want to shift the Democratic Party rightward is elected Speaker, there will be immediate criticism towards Fudge or whoever else the new Speaker would be from progressives and Pelosi loyalists, two factions of the Democratic Party who don't exactly agree with each other 100% of the time.
Furthermore, and unlike most of the House Democratic Caucus, Fudge is not a staunch supporter of LGBTQ rights:
In other words, Fudge has refused to support civil rights protections for LGBTQ Americans. As Fuller noted, the only other House Democrat who has refused to support the proposed Equality Act is Dan Lipinski, who is very conservative on social issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights and barely won re-nomination the last time he faced a contested Democratic primary.I will note that Marcia Fudge is one of two Democratic members who refuses to cosponsor the Equality Act, which would extend civil rights protections to sexual orientation and gender identity.— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) November 14, 2018
(The other is Dan Lipinski.) https://t.co/rte68HKS35
The next House Speaker must be someone who is strongly supportive of the notion that LGBTQ Americans are of equal standing to heterosexual Americans and strongly supportive of policies designed to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ Americans.
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