Marshall Says He Won’t Support Pelosi for Speaker Again
Rep. Jim Marshall doesn’t plan to vote again for Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, according to a Thursday report in the Macon Telegraph.
The Georgia Democrat’s pronouncement makes him the second endangered incumbent Democrat in less that a week to say publicly that he would vote against the California Democrat.
“My candidate’s going to be somebody who’s a centrist, preferably somebody who’s going to be Speaker of the entire House,” Marshall told the local newspaper.
Marshall’s Republican opponent, former state Rep. Austin Scott, has branded the four-term Democrat a “Pelosicrat.”
Marshall told the Macon Telegraph that he “had always preferred a different candidate, but Nancy Pelosi always had her votes, and there wasn’t much point in the public vote, where she was certain to be the Speaker.”
“There wasn’t much point in sticking a thumb in her eye, effectively to no effect, to vote no.’ In this instance I think it’s probably best that I announce it in advance,” he told the paper.
Rep. Bobby Bright this week unveiled a new 30-second television spot touting his opposition to Pelosi getting a third term as Speaker, a position that the Alabama Democrat first made public late last week.
Like Marshall, Bright said he would cast his vote for someone who is more centrist.
Bright and Marshall were among about a dozen moderate Democrats who had either refused to commit last month to voting for Pelosi as Speaker or would not talk about the issue at all.
Despite his previous votes for Pelosi, Marshall said he would have preferred someone more to the middle, such as Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss) has said he would also prefer Skelton over Pelosi.
At least two Democratic candidates also have ruled out the possibility of voting for Pelosi.
Pelosi’s office has strongly disputed the notion that her support within the Caucus is eroding but did not immediately respond to a request for comment.