Nancy Pelosi has been re-elected as Speaker of the House of Representative, giving her the reins of Democrats’ slender House majority as President-elect Joe Biden sets a challenging course of producing legislation to tackle the pandemic, revive the economy and address other party priorities.
The California Democrat, who has led her party in the House since 2003 and is the only woman to be Speaker, had been widely expected to retain her post.
Nancy Pelosi secured a re-election with a narrow voting margin on Sunday.
She garnered 216 votes to defeat her rival, Kevin McCarthy of the Republican Party, who secured 209 votes.
The Democrats lost 11 seats in the November 3 elections thus narrowing its majority in the House to 222-212.
For the past two years, Pelosi has been the Democrats’ main foil for President Donald Trump, and that’s helped keep her caucus unified.
On Wednesday, the two chambers will hold a joint session to certify the election of President-elect Joe Biden before his inauguration on January 20.
It promises to be the first major test of the new Congress where 11 Republican senators, led by Ted Cruz (Texas), have vowed to vote against Biden’s victory in swing states disputed by Trump.
In a statement on Sunday, a bipartisan group of 10 Senators said the 2020 election was over, and urged their colleagues to certify Biden’s election.
