WASHINGTON (CN) - To raucous cheers and references to hip-hop group Naughty by Nature, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to make Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House on Thursday, returning the gavel to the hands of the first woman to ever hold the position.
Beginning the new Congress after a dramatic power shift for Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections, the House convened today at noon, jovial and loud. Before a morning prayer brought silence to the cacophonous chamber, Democrats applauded the announcement that the previous Congress, which was controlled by Republicans, had ended.
Pelosi meanwhile worked her way down the aisles of the chamber, shaking hands with and hugging members of her new caucus and the family members who accompanied them to the floor. Some members sported large, dark blue buttons that proclaimed "Madame Speaker."
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., gave a rousing speech to officially nominate Pelosi, extolling her record as a legislator and as a leader of Democrats in the past. Democrats stood and applauded multiple times during the speech, and Pelosi's was the only name Democrats officially put forward for the speaker nomination.
"Nancy Pelosi is a woman of faith, a loving wife, a mother of five, a grandmother of nine, a sophisticated strategist, a legendary legislator, a voice for the voiceless, a defender of the disenfranchised a powerful, profound, prophetic, principled public servant and that's why we stand squarely behind her today," Jeffries said, his voice rising with each phrase. "Let me be clear, House Democrats are 'down with N.D.P.,' Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi, the once and future speaker of the United States House of Representatives, I proudly place her name in nomination. May God bless, her, may God bless the United States of America."
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., put forward McCarthy as the Republican choice for speaker.
Lawmakers were called by name during the speaker vote, standing from their chairs to state their preference in the race.
Rep. Anthony Brindisi, a newly elected Democrat from New York who said he would not support Pelosi in the midterms, drew murmurs from his fellow Democrats when he cast his vote for former Vice President Joe Biden.
A handful of new lawmakers stuck by promises to vote against Pelosi on Thursday, including Brindisi and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., though not in great enough numbers to sink her speakership aspirations.
Democrats applauded wildly as it was announced that Pelosi received 220 votes of the votes cast.
A 78-year-old who has represented much of the San Francisco area in the House since 1987, Pelosi held the speaker position from 2007, when Democrats rose to power at the end of the George W. Bush administration, to 2011, when they lost it midway through President Barack Obama's first term.
Pelosi has touted a Democratic agenda focused on health care, infrastructure, wages and anti-corruption initiatives, with a sizable dose of oversight of the Trump administration.
In a speech after the speaker vote, Pelosi reiterated these pillars, while also laying out a vision of a Congress that is "transparent, bipartisan and unifying." Pelosi said the House would take action on infrastructure and an elections bill, as well as "commonsense, bipartisan" gun legislation.
Pelosi's vision of the House also focused on the middle class, saying she hopes lawmakers will be committed to securing the Social Security program and increasing wages and job opportunities for people worried about a changing economy.
"We must be pioneers of the future," Pelosi said, to applause. "This Congress must accelerate a future that advances America's preeminence in the world and opens up opportunities for all."
She also said Congress would take action to protect from deportation people who were brought to the United States as children and to end discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people.
