House Democrats are divided on whether to return the speaker's gavel to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi if they retake control, but even if they reject her, it's not clear who they'll pick, American Spectator columnist Jeffrey Lord told Newsmax TV Friday.
"Something like this can really roil the waters, and I actually think there's a precedent on the Republican side," Lord told "Newsmax Now." "Long ago and far away [House Minority Leader] Bob Michel was very much a creature of the institution. He was being opposed internally all the time by Newt Gingrich, who was a young, you know, aggressive conservative congressman."
Gingrich charged that the House leadership wasn't doing much, Lord continued, "and eventually the old order got tossed out" and Gingrich became House speaker.
"He helped win the House for the first time for Republicans in something like 40 years," said Lord. "That's in essence what you're seeing here. You've got all these Democrats within the Democratic Party in the House."
Pelosi, D-Calif., has been in the House for several years, said Lord.
"Divided, they're trying to figure out what to do," said Lord. "Pelosi has been there a long time. The question is, if she goes, who replaces her? That part, I don't think it's settled."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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