Democrat Nancy Pelosi narrowly re-elected as US House Speaker

She will serve her fourth term in the role with the slimmest House majority in two decades

Nancy Pelosi waves the gavel after being re-elected as Speaker of the US House of Representatives on January 3. Reuters

Nancy Pelosi, the only woman to serve as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, was narrowly re-elected to the position on Sunday in a deeply divided new Congress which convened in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

She had a scare when five fellow Democrats defected and voted “present” or for someone else during the floor vote.

But Ms Pelosi, 80, who is third in line to the presidency, secured her fourth non-consecutive term as House Speaker by earning 216 votes versus 209 for Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.

In a symbolic gesture beginning the 117th Congress, Mr McCarthy formally handed the speaker's gavel to Ms Pelosi, who raised it in triumph as Democrats cheered and applauded.

“We begin this new Congress during a time of extraordinary difficulty,” Ms Pelosi told the chamber, noting the toll of 360,000 dead and more than 21 million infected during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our most urgent priority will continue to be defeating the coronavirus. And defeat it we will.”

The vote took more than two hours as politicians were required to vote in groups of several dozen under social distancing rules.

Ms Pelosi has been Mr Trump’s chief nemesis in Congress, and the two clashed bitterly over the past two years, particularly as she levelled impeachment charges against the president.

Mr Trump was impeached by the House in December 2019, but the Senate acquitted him early in 2020. His successor, Joe Biden, takes office on January 20.

With Ms Pelosi scrambling to keep her post, it was a handful of progressive politicians and members-elect who have been critical of her leadership but voted for her on Sunday.

Among them was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most high-profile Democrats in Washington, and incoming lawmaker Cori Bush, who is the first African American woman to represent Missouri in Congress.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez said Democratic unity was important “at a time when the Republican Party is attempting an electoral coup”, a reference to the support many congressional Republicans are giving outgoing Mr Trump’s effort to reverse the election results.

She said she and other progressives “have been in conversations and negotiations” with Ms Pelosi but did not offer details.

There are normally 435 members of the House, but only 427 votes were cast Sunday as a few congressmen-elect are in quarantine due to Covid-19 and a tight House race in New York has yet to be formally decided.

One congressman-elect from Louisiana, Luke Letlow, died of Covid-19 last week aged 41, days before he was due to be inaugurated.

That leaves Democrats with one of the slimmest House majorities in two decades, 222 to 211 with two vacancies, as they navigate the remaining few weeks of Mr Trump’s presidency.

On a day that was anything but conventional, Republican Chip Roy interrupted the inauguration process to ask that the delegations from the six swing states in which Mr Trump contested the election results not be seated.

Ms Pelosi dispensed with the request by holding a vote that affirmed her right to inaugurate all House members.