It sounds like Florida's new Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham should learn to speak up, and perhaps even shout.
Graham, who beat incumbent Republican Rep. Steve Southerland in the midterms, campaigned partly on a promise that
she would not support Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, for House minority leader, but Pelosi was elected by a unanimous voice vote Tuesday for another term.
According to a senior aide in the room during the vote, there were "no nays audible in room,"
The Washington Post reported.
But Graham insisted to the
Tampa Bay Times that she had kept her campaign promise and not voted for Pelosi.
"We need new leadership in both parties to move forward, and that’s why I didn’t give my support to Nancy Pelosi today," Graham told the Times.
"When the vote for leadership happens in January, I will support someone who I believe can bring people together to solve problems."
The National Republican Congressional Committee's Katie Prill jumped on Graham's gaffe.
"So what happened to Gwen Graham bucking her own party? Typical say and do anything to get elected politician. Someone should ask Gwen why she went back on her word," she told the Times.
Graham, daughter of the popular former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, anxious to distance herself from decidedly unpopular President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders who brought down so many Democratic candidates in the midterm elections, was asked during her campaign if she would vote for Pelosi.
She said, "No, I would not. And this is why. I believe we need to have new leadership on both sides of the aisle.
"The leadership that we have today has become so polarizing and so politicized that I’m not blaming either of them, it’s just the reality. So we need new leadership that Democrats and Republicans feel comfortable working with so we can start getting things done for our country again," Graham said,
Politico reported last month.
In a debate at the Tallahassee Tiger Bay Club, she stated, "I am not Nancy Pelosi. Neither am I Barack Obama or (Sen.) Harry Reid (D-Nev.). I am Gwen Graham," Politico reported.
The Congressional Leadership Fund told the
Sunshine State News in an email, "Gwen Graham has just arrived to prepare for her seat in Congress, but it appears she’s already gone Washington. This morning, House Democrats unanimously reelected Nancy Pelosi as their leader with 'no nays audible in the room,' including from Gwen Graham.
"North Florida voters are already seeing the real Gwen Graham: good at giving her word, not so good at keeping it."
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