Moulton Salutes One-Time Rival As Pelosi Vacates House Leadership Role

SALEM, MA — Four years after U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton led a challenge to longtime House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's tight grip on the party leadership on Capitol Hill, the Salem Democrat on Thursday praised Pelosi for "breaking one of the toughest glass ceilings in the country" as she announced she would not seek a party leadership role in the next Congress.

The California Democrat, who is the nation's first woman to hold the speaker's post, said she would remain in Congress as the representative from San Francisco, a position she has held for 35 years, when the new Congress convenes in January after leading Democrats in the chamber for the past two decades.

The news comes after last month's violent attack on her husband, Paul, in their San Francisco home.

"Now we must move boldly into the future," Pelosi said. "The hour has come for a new generation."

Pelosi's announcement comes one day after Republicans gained control of the House, according to projections from the Associated Press.

The move came after Moulton made similar calls for a generational shift in 2018 as he helped organize opposition to Pelosi's extended time as House Speaker. The bid, which Moulton expressed initial bold confidence in, quickly fizzled with Democrats rallying behind the caucus leader for the next four years.

Moulton supported Pelosi in her Speaker bid in 2020 and the two maintained cordial public peace in recent years despite the challenge.

"Nancy Pelosi will go down in history as a historic Speaker and legendary Democrat," Moulton said in a statement on Thursday. "Breaking one of the toughest glass ceilings in the country, she inspired generations of women and set an example I will use with my two daughters.

"I am grateful for what she has done for our party, and I am excited to support a new leader who will move us forward. Democrats need to come together focused squarely on the future."

The Pelosi-Moulton relationship experienced another hiccup last summer when Pelosi was harshly critical of Moulton's unannounced visit to Afghanistan amid the American troop withdrawal.

"The point is that we don't want anybody to think this is a good idea and follow suit," she said at the time. "We wanted to make sure they were safe for themselves, but also for what consequences would flow, ramifications if something happened to them while they were there.

"They have to make their own case as to why they went and this and that. But it was not, in my mind, a good idea."

Moulton appeared to make a thinly veiled reference to the scolding this past August when he said he was in full "support" of Pelosi's trip to Taiwan that raised the ire of the Chinese government and appeared in conflict with President Joe Biden's ongoing pledge to support a "One China" policy involving the mainland and the nearby island U.S. ally.

Moulton posted a story of Pelosi receiving mixed reviews on social media for her decision with his own commentary: "Sometimes you have to go see it for yourself."

"Congressman Moulton believes members of Congress should go and see some things for themselves," Moulton Communications Director Ron Eckstein told Patch in respect to the apparent Twitter quip on Aug. 2. "He fully supports Speaker Pelosi's trip to Taiwan."

Moulton expressed concern after the Nov. 8 election that "Democrats are losing influence across the country" and must be "laser-focused on bolstering the safeguards of democracy across America" in the Republican-controlled Congressional session to come.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)