Saxbe fix
The Saxbe fix, or salary rollback, is a mechanism by which the President of the United States, in appointing a current or former member of the United States Congress whose elected term has not yet expired, can avoid the restriction of the United States Constitution's Ineligibility Clause. That clause prohibits the President from appointing a current or former member of Congress to a civil office position, created, or to a civil office position for which the pay or benefits were increased, during the term for which that member was elected until the term has expired; the rollback, first implemented by an Act of Congress in 1909, reverts the emoluments of the office to the amount they were when that member began his or her elected term. To prevent ethical conflicts, James Madison proposed language at the Constitutional Convention, adopted as the Ineligibility Clause after debate and modification by other Founding Fathers. A number of approaches have been taken to circumvent or adhere to the restrictions.
Although Congress passed the mechanism reducing emoluments in 1909, the procedure was named "Saxbe fix" after Senator William Saxbe, confirmed as Attorney General in 1973 after Congress reduced the office's salary to the level it had been before Saxbe's term commenced. The Saxbe fix has subsequently become relevant as a successful—though not universally accepted—solution for appointments by presidents of both parties of sitting members of the United States Congress to the United States Cabinet. Members of Congress have been appointed to federal judgeships without any fix being enacted. There were four Saxbe fixes for appointees of presidents prior to Barack Obama; the first two rollbacks concerned appointees of Republicans William Howard Taft and Richard Nixon, the last two were implemented for appointees of Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Congress approved two more in the weeks preceding Obama's presidency in preparation for his designated Cabinet nominees. Since the 1980s, Saxbe fixes have only been temporary, extending to the conclusion of the term for which the sitting member of Congress was elected.
The Clause has received little scholarly or judicial attention. In his notes of the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, James Madison expressed the fear that members of Congress would create new federal jobs, or increase the salaries for existing jobs, take those jobs for themselves. Madison wrote that corrupt legislative actions, in the form of the unnecessary creation of offices and the increase of salaries for personal benefit, were one of his greatest concerns; the delegates who were present agreed that no member of Congress should be eligible to be appointed to an executive position while serving in Congress. Madison proposed a one-year length on such a bar. However, Nathaniel Gorham, James Wilson, Alexander Hamilton wanted no bar at all at the conclusion of congressional service. Madison proposed a compromise: "that no office ought to be open to a member, which may be created or augmented while he is in the legislature"; the delegates eliminated the prohibition on a member of Congress's assuming holding state office based on the rationale that there might be times when it might be in the best interest of the nation to allow such service.
They eliminated the one-year ban because they judged it to be ineffective in protecting the Constitution. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney moved that the states vote and the prohibition carried by vote of 8 states to 3. Robert Yates noted that the clause "which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased" was an amendment passed in his absence, that he did not place much faith in it as he felt unscrupulous politicians would circumvent it by creating new positions for persons who would subsequently place a member of Congress in a vacancy that they and not Congress created. Madison moved that the phrase "or the Emoluments whereof shall have been augmented by the legislature of the United States, during the time they were members thereof, for one year thereafter." This motion failed 2–8, with one state divided. The clause was limited to "civil" offices. Accordingly, the clause was passed in its current form without an explicit time consideration. Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution therefore prohibits self-dealing legislation and is intended to protect the "separation of power" of the various branches of government.
Corruption such as seen in the British Parliament was a consideration during debate by the framers of the Constitution. Legal scholars have accorded this clause little attention in their academic writings and there have been no cases which directly applied the clause, as no plaintiff has been able to establish legal standing. In fact, some general guides to Constitutional research, such as the clause-by-clause The Constitution of the United States: A Guide and Bibliography to Current Scholarly Research, do not discuss the Ineligibility clause. Most scholarly texts on the Constitution ignore the clause. Although the Saxbe fix is named for Nixon nominee William Saxbe, the device's first intentional use predates him by several decades; as a matter of historical tradition, the Saxbe fix is considered sufficie
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they compose the legislature of the United States; the composition of the House is established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of Representatives who sit in congressional districts that are allocated to each of the 50 states on a basis of population as measured by the U. S. Census, with each district entitled to one representative. Since its inception in 1789, all Representatives have been directly elected; the total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. As of the 2010 Census, the largest delegation is that of California, with fifty-three representatives. Seven states have only one representative: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming; the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration.
In addition to this basic power, the House has certain exclusive powers, among them the power to initiate all bills related to revenue. The House meets in the south wing of the United States Capitol; the presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, elected by the members thereof. The Speaker and other floor leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conference, depending on whichever party has more voting members. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a unicameral body in which each state was represented, in which each state had a veto over most action. After eight years of a more limited confederal government under the Articles, numerous political leaders such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton initiated the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which received the Confederation Congress's sanction to "amend the Articles of Confederation". All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates; the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention.
Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house would be "of the people", elected directly by the people of the United States and representing public opinion, a more deliberative upper house, elected by the lower house, that would represent the individual states, would be less susceptible to variations of mass sentiment. The House is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being the upper house, although the United States Constitution does not use that terminology. Both houses' approval is necessary for the passage of legislation; the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states; the Convention reached the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise, under which one house of Congress would provide representation proportional to each state's population, whereas the other would provide equal representation amongst the states.
The Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House began work on April 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time. During the first half of the 19th century, the House was in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery; the North was much more populous than the South, therefore dominated the House of Representatives. However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery. One example of a provision supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, which began soon after several southern states attempted to secede from the Union; the war culminated in the abolition of slavery. All southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, therefore the Senate did not hold the balance of power between North and South during the war.
The years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Union's victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877; the Democratic Party and Republican Party each held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a dramatic increase in the power of the Speaker of the House; the rise of the Speaker's influence began in the 1890s, during the tenure of Republican Thomas Brackett Reed. "Czar Reed", as he was nicknamed, attempted to put into effect his view that "The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch." The leadership structure of the House developed during the same period, with the positions of Majority Leader and Minority Leader being created in 1899. While the Minority Leader
Longworth House Office Building
The Longworth House Office Building is one of three office buildings used by the United States House of Representatives. The building is located south of the Capitol, bounded by Independence Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, C Street S. E. and South Capitol Street, in southeast Washington. It covers an area of 599,675 square feet and has a total of 251 congressional offices and suites, five large committee rooms, seven small committee rooms, a large assembly room now used by the Ways and Means Committee; the building was named in 1962 in honor of the former Speaker of the House, Nicholas Longworth of Ohio. He served as Speaker from 1925 until Republicans lost their majority in 1931, the same year he died, the same year the building was authorized. Plans to provide the House of Representatives with a second office building were begun in 1925. Severe overcrowding in the Cannon House Office Building led to the renovation of the Cannon Building and the construction of the Longworth Building", it is the smallest House office building, with a floor area of just under 600,000 square feet.
Under the direction of Architect of the Capitol David Lynn, preliminary designs for the building were prepared by a local firm known as The Allied Architects of Washington Inc. The principal architects were Frank Upman, Gilbert LaCoste Rodier, Nathan C. Wyeth, Louis Justemente, they produced "two schemes for a simple, dignified building in harmony with the rest of the Capitol Complex. In January 1929 Congress authorized $8.4 million for acquiring and clearing the site and for constructing the new building. The foundations were completed in December 1930, the building was accepted for occupancy in April 1933"; the large assembly room of the Longworth Building, which seats 450 people, was used by the House of Representatives as their primary meeting room in 1949 and 1950 while its chamber in the United States Capitol was being remodeled. It is the meeting room for the House Ways and Means Committee. "Because of its position on a sloping site, the rusticated base of the Longworth Building varies in height from two to four stories.
Above this granite base stand the three principal floors, which are faced with white marble. Ionic columns supporting a well-proportioned entablature are used for the building's five porticoes, the principal one of, topped by a pediment. Two additional stories are hidden by a marble balustrade, it presents a somewhat more restrained appearance than the neighboring Cannon Building, designed in the more theatrical Beaux Arts style. The Longworth Building takes its place along with the National Gallery of Art and the Jefferson Memorial as one of Washington's best examples of the Neo-classical Revival style". Three Bits of Trivia About the Longworth House Office Building - Ghosts of DC blog post 3D SketchUp model of the Longworth House Office Building for use in Google Earth
Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton Hoyer is an American politician serving as U. S. Representative for Maryland's 5th congressional district since 1981 and as House Majority Leader since 2019. A Democrat, he was first elected in a special election on May 19, 1981 and is serving in his 20th term; the district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, D. C.. Hoyer is the dean of the Maryland Congressional delegation. Since 2003, Hoyer has been the second ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives behind Nancy Pelosi, he is a two-time House Majority Leader, having served in the post from 2007 to 2011 under Speaker Pelosi. During two periods of Republican House control, Hoyer served as House Minority Whip, both times under Minority Leader Pelosi; as a result of the 2018 midterm elections, in which the Democrats took control of the House, Hoyer was re-elected Majority Leader in January 2019 on the opening of the 116th Congress, remaining the number two House Democrat behind Speaker Pelosi.
Hoyer was born in New York City, New York, grew up in Mitchellville, the son of Jean and Steen Theilgaard Høyer. His father was Danish and a native of Copenhagen, his mother was an American, with Scottish and English ancestry, a descendant of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He graduated from Suitland High School in Maryland. In 1963, he received his B. A. degree magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He earned his J. D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D. C. in 1966. For four years, from 1962 to 1966, Hoyer was a member of the staff of United States Senator Daniel Brewster. In 1966, Hoyer won a newly created seat in the Maryland State Senate, representing Prince George's County-based Senate District 4C; the district, created in the aftermath of Reynolds v. Sims, was renumbered as the 26th district in 1975, the same year that Hoyer was elected President of the Maryland State Senate, the youngest in state history.
From 1969 to 1971, Hoyer served as the 1st Vice President of the Young Democrats of America. In 1978, Hoyer sought the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Maryland as the running mate of acting Governor Blair Lee III, but lost out to Samuel Bogley 37%–34%. In the same year, Hoyer was appointed to the Maryland Board of Higher Education, a position he served in until 1981. Fifth District Congresswoman Gladys Spellman fell into a coma three days before the 1980 election, she was reelected, but it soon became apparent that she would never regain consciousness, Congress declared her seat vacant by resolution in February 1981. Hoyer narrowly won a crowded seven-way Democratic primary, beating Spellman's husband Reuben by only 1,600 votes, he defeated a better-funded Republican, Audrey Scott, in the May 19 special election by 56%-44%, earning himself the nickname of "boy wonder". In the 1982 general election, Hoyer won reelection to his first full term with 80% of the vote, he has only faced one close contest since when he defeated future Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan with just 55% of the vote in 1992.
His second worst performance was his 1996 bid against Republican State Delegate John Morgan, when he won reelection with 57% of the vote. Hoyer has been reelected 14 times with no substantive opposition, is the longest-serving House member from southern Maryland ever. Domestic issuesSocial Issues: Hoyer is pro-choice on abortion rights, he voted against the Partial-Abortion ban bill in 2003. Hoyer supports affirmative LGBT rights. Gun Rights: He is rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun-control voting record. Privacy: In 2008, Hoyer said he opposed providing immunity to telecom companies, but negotiated a bill, described by Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold as a "capitulation", that would provide immunity to any telecom company, told by the Bush administration that their actions were legal. "No matter how they spin it, this is still immunity," said Kevin Bankston, a senior lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights group that has sued over President Bush's wiretapping program.
"It's not compromise, it's pure theater." Health Care: In a 2009 USA Today opinion piece regarding healthcare reform, Steny Hoyer wrote that "Drowning out opposing views is un-American." Taxes: In June 2010, Hoyer brought up the idea that Congress would extend only temporarily middle-class tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of the year, suggesting that making them permanent would cost too much. President Obama wanted to extend them permanently for individuals making less than $200,000 a year and families making less than $250,000. Foreign issuesIndia: Hoyer supports civilian nuclear cooperation with India. Iraq: Hoyer supported the Iraq War and was recognized by the DLC for his vocal leadership on this issue. After the war became publicly unpopular, Hoyer said he favored a "responsible redeployment". However, he has supported legislation to continue funding for the war without deadlines for troop withdrawal, most in return for increased funding of domestic projects. Israel: Hoyer is a supporter of Israel, has been allied with American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
In September 2007, he criticized Rep. Jim Moran for suggesting that AIPAC "has pushed war from the beginning
Rayburn House Office Building
The Rayburn House Office Building is a congressional office building for the U. S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D. C. between South Capitol Street and First Street. Rayburn is named after former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, it was completed in 1965 and at 2.375 million square feet is the largest congressional office building and the newest House office building. Rayburn is home to the offices of 169 Representatives. Earlier efforts to provide space for the House of Representatives had included the construction of the Cannon House Office Building and the Longworth House Office Building. In March 1955, House Speaker Sam Rayburn introduced an amendment for a third House office building, although no site had been identified, no architectural study had been done, no plans prepared; the area west of the Longworth Building on squares 635 and 636 was chosen, with the main entrance on Independence Avenue and garage and pedestrian entrances on South Capitol Street, C Street, First Street Southwest.
The cornerstone was laid in May 1962, full occupancy began in February 1965. The Architect of the Capitol, J. George Stewart, with the approval of the House Office Building Commission, selected the firm of Harbeson, Livingston & Larson of Philadelphia to design a stripped-down classical building in architectural harmony with other Capitol Hill structures. However, while the interior design of the other House Office Buildings retains decor one would expect to see in House Office Buildings, the Rayburn building possesses design style parallel to that of the 1960s, with chrome push bars and elevators, space-age fluorescent lighting fixtures; the Capitol Subway System, an underground transportation system, connects the building to the Capitol. Pedestrian tunnels connect the Rayburn building to the Capitol and to the Longworth House Office Building; this system allows the Rayburn building to be connected to most of the Congressional office buildings on Capitol Hill via tunnel. For construction of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Congressional bill appropriated $2 million plus "such additional sums as may be necessary."
Such additional sums totaled $88 million. Congressional leaders inserted a gymnasium into the building plans, a fact, not publicly known at the time of construction; the gym is below the sub-basement level, in a level of the underground parking garage, according to The Hill, a capitol hill newspaper, "features dozens of cardio machines outfitted with TV screens, an array of Cybex weightlifting machines and free weights." In the third floor basement is a shooting range run by the U. S. Capitol Police and a basketball court. On May 20, 2006 FBI agents raided the Rayburn Building office of Democratic Congressman William J. Jefferson in connection to an ongoing bribery investigation, marking the first time the FBI had raided the office of a sitting congressman; the raid led to members of both parties questioning the constitutionality of the action, a subsequent hearing by the House Judiciary Committee. The legality of the raid was challenged in court, where a federal appeals court ruled that the FBI had violated the Speech or Debate clause of the United States Constitution by allowing the executive branch to review materials that were part of the legislative process.
On May 26, 2006, at 10:30 am local time, there were reports of the sounds of gunfire in the garage of the building. The Capitol complex was sealed off, staff in the building were told to stay in their offices after the building was put into lockdown by the United States Capitol Police; some parts of the lockdown were removed. Congressman Jim Saxton was the source of the false alarm, after he mistook construction sounds in the garage for gunfire. Congressional office buildings Cannon House Office Building Ford House Office Building Longworth House Office Building "The Rayburn House Office Building". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved 24 July 2005. Media related to Rayburn House Office Building at Wikimedia Commons
Eric Swalwell
Eric Michael Swalwell Jr. is an American politician from California, who serves as the U. S. Representative from California's 15th congressional district, his district covers part of central Contra Costa County. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Swalwell was raised in Sac City and Dublin, California. While attending the University of Maryland, College Park, he served as a student liaison to the city council for College Park, Maryland, he interned for Ellen Tauscher and worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California. Before being elected to the U. S. House, he served as a local appointee on Dublin commissions, served one term elected to the Dublin City Council, he was elected to the U. S. House in November 2012, defeating incumbent Pete Stark, a 40-year incumbent who had held the office since 1973. Stark was a fellow Democrat a half-century Swalwell's senior. Swalwell took office on January 3, 2013. Swalwell announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on April 8, 2019.
Swalwell was born in Sac City, the first of four sons of Eric Nelson Swalwell and Vicky Joe Swalwell. After leaving Iowa, the family settled in Dublin, California, he graduated from Wells Middle School, from Dublin High School in 1999. Swalwell attended Campbell University in North Carolina on a soccer scholarship from 1999 to 2001, he broke both of his thumbs in his sophomore year, ending the scholarship. Swalwell transferred to the University of College Park, as a junior. In 2003, he completed his bachelor's degree in government and politics at Maryland, he enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor in 2006. At the University of Maryland, Swalwell served as Vice President of Campus Affairs for the Student Government Association, was an elected member of the Student-Faculty-Staff University Senate and of its executive committee, he was an active member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He served as the student liaison to the City Council of College Park. In 2001 and 2002, Swalwell interned for Ellen Tauscher in the United States House of Representatives representative for California's 10th congressional district.
Swalwell focused on services. The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred during his internship; the attacks inspired his first legislative achievement: using his Student Government Association position at Maryland to create a public–private college scholarship program for students who lost parents in the attacks. After graduating from law school, he worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney, he served on the Dublin Heritage & Cultural Arts Commission from 2006 to 2008 and on the Dublin Planning Commission from 2008 to 2010 before winning election to the Dublin City Council in 2010. While he was running for the U. S. Congress, an attempted recall of Swalwell from the city council led by an anonymous group began, but after he won election to the U. S. House, the attempt was abandoned. In September 2011, Swalwell filed to run for Congress in the 15th district; the district had been the 13th, represented by 20-term incumbent Democrat Pete Stark. Stark had represented the district since 1973.
Swalwell took a leave of absence from the Dublin City Council. Swalwell was only able to contest Stark in the general election because of California's new "top two" primary system put in place by 2010 California Proposition 14. Under that system, the top two primary vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. In the June primary election, Stark finished first with 41.8% of the vote, Swalwell placed second with 36% of the vote, independent candidate Chris Pareja finished third with 22.2% of the vote. In the November 2012 general election, Swalwell was endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle. During the 2012 election cycle, the Stark campaign accused Swalwell of being a Tea Party candidate; the accusation was refuted by Swalwell and the San Jose Mercury News, which endorsed Swalwell. Stark refused to debate Swalwell during the campaign. In response, Swalwell organized a mock debate with an actor playing Pete Stark, quoting him verbatim when answering the moderator.
Other campaign gimmicks included Chinese-manufactured rubber ducks, a dreadlocked, bearded information man. In the November 2012 election, Swalwell defeated Stark, 52.1% to 47.9%. During his service in the House, Swalwell has become known for innovative and extensive use of social media to connect with constituents. In April 2016, The Hill dubbed him "the Snapchat king of Congress", he used Facebook Live and Periscope to broadcast House Democrats' historic gun-violence sit-in in June 2016. Swalwell called for new policies regarding cameras on the House floor. Swalwell a member of the Dublin City Council, challenged incumbent Pete Stark in 2012, he defeated Stark in the November general election with 52.1% of the vote to Stark's 47.9%. Swalwell was sworn into his first term in the House on January 3, 2013, becoming only the third person to represent this district and its predecessors since 1945. George P. Miller had held the seat from 1945 to 1973. In his first term, Swalwell served on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Science and Technology.
Swalwell helped
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi is an American politician serving as speaker of the United States House of Representatives since January 2019. First elected to Congress in 1987, she is the only woman to have served as speaker, is the highest-ranking elected woman in United States history. Pelosi is second in the presidential line of succession after the vice president. A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi is in her 17th term as a congresswoman, representing California's 12th congressional district, which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco, she represented the 5th district, when district boundaries were redrawn after the 1990 Census, the 8th district. She has led House Democrats since 2003, serving twice each as Speaker and as House Minority Leader depending upon whether Democrats or Republicans held the majority. Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush Administration's 2005 attempt to privatize Social Security. During her first speakership, she was instrumental in the passage of many landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, along with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 2010 Tax Relief Act, which served as economic stimulus amidst the Great Recession.
In the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats won control of the House. Afterward, when the 116th Congress convened on January 3, 2019, Pelosi was elected Speaker for the second time, becoming the first former speaker to return to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955. Pelosi was born in Baltimore to an Italian-American family, the youngest, only girl, of seven children of Annunciata M. "Nancy" D'Alesandro, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. Both of Pelosi's parents had Italian roots, her mother was born in Campobasso, in South Italy, her father could trace his Italian ancestry to Genoa and Abruzzo. When Nancy was born, her father was a Democratic Congressman from Maryland and he became Mayor of Baltimore seven years later. Pelosi's mother was active in politics, organizing Democratic women and teaching her daughter the value of social networking. Pelosi's brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III a Democrat, was Mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971. Pelosi was involved with politics from an early age, she helped her father at his campaign events.
She attended John F. Kennedy's inaugural address when he became U. S. President in January 1961, she graduated from the Institute of a Catholic all-girls high school in Baltimore. In 1962, she graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D. C. with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Pelosi interned for Senator Daniel Brewster in the 1960s alongside future House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. After moving to San Francisco, Pelosi worked her way up in Democratic politics, she became a friend of one of the leaders of the California Democratic Party, 5th District Congressman Phillip Burton. In 1976, Pelosi was elected as a Democratic National Committee member from California, a position she would hold until 1996, she was elected as party chair for Northern California on January 30, 1977, for the California Democratic Party, which she held from 1981 until 1983. That same year, she ran to succeed Chuck Manatt as chair of the Democratic National Committee, but lost to then-DNC Treasurer Paul G. Kirk.
Pelosi left her post as DSCC finance chair in 1986. Phillip Burton was succeeded by his wife, Sala. In late 1986, Sala became ill with cancer and decided not to run for reelection in 1988, she picked Pelosi as her designated successor, guaranteeing her the support of the Burtons' contacts. Sala died on February 1987, just a month after being sworn in for a second full term. Pelosi won the special election to succeed her, narrowly defeating San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt on April 7, 1987 easily defeating Republican candidate Harriet Ross on June 2, 1987. Pelosi represents one of the safest Democratic districts in the country. Democrats have held the seat since 1949 and Republicans, who make up only 13 percent of registered voters in the district, have not made a serious bid for the seat since the early 1960s, she won reelection in the regular election in 1988 and has been reelected another 16 times with no substantive opposition, winning with an average of 80 percent of the vote. She has not participated in candidates' debates since her 1987 race against Harriet Ross.
The strongest challenge Pelosi has faced was in 2016 when Preston Picus polled 19.1% and Pelosi won with 80.9%. For the 2000 and 2002 election cycles, she held the distinction of contributing the most among members of Congress to other congressional campaigns, in part because she is in a safe district and does not need the campaign funds. In the House, she served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, was the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee until her election as Minority Leader. Pelosi is a member of the House Baltic Caucus. In 2001, Pelosi was elected the House Minority Whip, second-in-command to Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, she was the first woman in U. S. history to hold that post. In 2002, after Gephardt resigned as minority leader to seek the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election, Pelosi was elected to replace him, becoming the first woman to lead a major party in the House. In the 2006 midterm elections, the Democrats took control of the House.
The change in control meant as House Minority Leader, Pelosi w
