Pelosi dismisses question about support for Speakership as ‘least important’ reporter could ask

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a new interview dismissed questions about support for her to become Speaker if the Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections. 

“It is the least important question you could ask, with all due respect to your list of questions there,” she told NPR.

{mosads}Pelosi, who served as the first female Speaker from 2007 to 2011, is facing a barrage of Republican advertisements against her as the GOP attempts to maintain to its House majority. However, she told NPR the midterms are about much more than just her.

“You wake up each day thinking, what can I do to advance what I believe in, to make the future better. And then some reporter comes up and asks you: ‘Who are you going to vote for for leader?'” Pelosi said. 

“The most important thing is, what does this election mean for the American people?” she added.

However, Pelosi, who is facing an unprecedented level of resistance among Democrats, may have trouble avoiding the question surrounding support for a potential Speakership.

An ongoing tally compiled by NBC News shows 57 Democratic candidates for the House, including 11 incumbents, opposing a Pelosi Speakership.

A large portion of those 57 candidates come either from candidates in swing districts where Pelosi is unpopular or from candidates in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party who are hungry for fresh leadership.

Pelosi has led the Democrats in the House of Representatives since 2003.

She is aided by two factors in the Democratic Party. First, she has seemingly unparalleled fundraising abilities, something that is helping even those candidates who have not pledged their support for her. 

Second, following the defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), there is no heir-apparent to replace her.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is known to be interested in the job, as well as Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). However, Hoyer is not likely to pose a significant threat to Pelosi, analysts say, and Clyburn has only expressed interest in the case that Pelosi fails the get the number of votes needed to retake the Speaker’s gavel.