Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is using the GOP’s fight over the speakership as an opportunity to add to Democrats’ war chest.
House Republicans are headed into their 14th ballot to determine the top dog in the lower chamber, with GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California having a commanding lead.
Pelosi has capitalized on the messy effort to elect her successor.
‘I need you to understand what’s at stake,’ said a Friday fundraising email signed by Pelosi. ‘Republicans have failed 13 times to choose a Speaker of the House. For the first time in a century, they’ve stalled the House from getting to work.’
‘Democrats stand ready and waiting to get to work, but the Republicans would rather disrespect the institution and the American people,’ the email continued.
Pelosi wrote in her fundraising email that ‘while Republicans fight each other and prove they are absolutely incapable of governing, I need Democrats to rise up and show we are united, ready to get to work, and defend every ounce of progress from Republican destruction.’
‘I’m humbly asking 2,621 Democrats to rush $15 to gather the financial resources we need to defeat Republicans’ extreme agenda and reclaim our Majority?’ the former speaker’s email read.
‘Even when Republicans DO finally end up choosing a Speaker – it won’t change the fact that their extremist agenda will hurt everyday Americans the most,’ Pelosi wrote. ‘I have no doubt they will threaten to hold the debt ceiling hostage, threaten Social Security and attack our freedoms from every angle.’
Pelosi’s email comes as the House heads to its 14th ballot to determine its speaker.
Republican Rep.-elect Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Pelosi is ‘happy as hell’ about the speaker fight in the GOP.
That happiness appears to have emboldened her to ask supporters for money as the majority of House Republicans look to get McCarthy behind the dias.
Seven GOP holdouts remain as McCarthy heads into the next vote in his quest for the speakership. He needs to flip at least two more holdouts to take the gavel.
Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of the holdout leaders, has also been fundraising off the speaker race drama in the House.
