16 Democrats release letter opposing Nancy Pelosi as next speaker of the House

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Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi

• A group of 16 Democrats released a letter stating opposition to Nancy Pelosi as the next speaker of the House.
• The letter is a mix of current House Democrats and incoming freshmen elected earlier in November.
• Pelosi is so far running unopposed, but will need at least 218 votes on the House floor to become speaker.

WASHINGTON - A group of Democratic representatives and several incoming freshmen released a letter on Monday stating their opposition to Nancy Pelosi being elected speaker of the House in January when the new Congress forms.

In the letter - which was signed by 16 House Democrats, five of whom were recently elected for the first time this November - the authors detailed their reasoning for refusing to back Pelosi in a call for new leadership.

"As we head toward the 116th Congress and reclaim our Democratic majority, we believe more strongly than ever that the time has come for new leadership in our Caucus," the letter reads. "We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus. She is a historic figure whose leadership has been instrumental to some of our party's most important legislative achievements."

The group of Democrats also claim to have come back into the majority thanks in part to many candidates' repeated public opposition to the current leadership structure.

"However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran and won on a message of change. Our majority came on the backs of candidates who said they would support new leadership because voters in hard-won districts, and across the country, want to see real change in Washington," they added. "We promised to change the status quo, and we intend to deliver on that promise."

Read more: Nancy Pelosi's bid for House Speaker is in a lot more trouble than she's letting on

While the group is relatively small in the scope of the Democrats' newfound House majority, there are several other recently elected Democrats who have stated publicly they do not plan to vote for Pelosi as speaker but did not sign the letter, which could place her in a fair amount of trouble.

There are also contingents of Democrats who have been frustrated about the leadership team's lack of "geographic diversity," among other issues.

And while President Donald Trump has said he wants Pelosi to be the next speaker, even encouraging Republicans to get on board with her bid, the longtime California Democrat has stated she intends to "win the speakership with Democratic votes."

Gender has also been a large component of the speaker fight.

"You cannot have the four leaders of Congress [and] the president of the United States, these five people, and not have the voice of women," Pelosi said during a Sunday interview on CBS. "Especially since women were the majority of the voters, the workers in campaigns, and now part of this glorious victory.

Pelosi noted in her Thursday press conference that of the Democrats who have signed the letter, a majority are men.

The group of Democrats are also pushing for Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge to challenge Pelosi. But Fudge has not yet decided as to whether she will run, instead taking the weeklong Thanksgiving break to mull it over.