But Pelosi is part of a generation of Democrats that some in the party feel haven't done enough to help lift up the next one and, frankly, help their party win. As Chris Cillizza has noted, Democratic losses this November underscore how the party "lacks a ready-and-waiting next generation of leaders to step up and lead it forward — whether at the national level or in Congress."
And that's probably the best explanation for why Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) announced Thursday that he's challenging the minority leader for House Democrats' top job. It's a long-shot bid, so it's really more a shot across the bow to Pelosi. Some Democrats feel their leadership should start listening to and making way for newer leaders who might have some fresh ideas about how to bring the caucus back from the political wilderness it has been in since 2010.
"What's wrong with your current leadership?" NPR's Steve Inskeep asked Ryan in an interview that aired Friday morning.
"Well, they keep losing," Ryan replied.
Ryan's challenge to Pelosi doesn't seem to be derived from personal or political animus toward her. "I love Nancy Pelosi," Ryan said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Friday "… but we have to talk about how we move forward."
Facts are facts, he said. And the facts paint a stark picture for House Democrats under Pelosi's leadership.
"We've lost 68 House races since 2010," Ryan went on to say. "We have the smallest majority since 1929 in our caucus. If you take state, federal officials, we have the smallest numbers since Reconstruction. If that's not a call for doing something differently, I don't know what is."
In other words, House Democrats are having a generational and regional — not ideological or personal — struggle right now. The umbrella for all this is there's a sense of frustration among House Democrats that the status quo isn't working, after six years of being in the minority with no end in sight. And for some, the target is Pelosi.
It's not clear what role, if any, Pelosi directly played in Democrats' electoral struggles. But what is clear is that as redistricting and polarization shrink the number of seats in play for Democrats, the party's leadership appears to be shrinking to older members on the coast. The Post's James Hohmann recently pointed out in his Daily 202 newsletter that two-thirds of congressional Democrats come from the coasts, including House Democrats' top three leaders, who are also all over 70.
Hohmann: "The top three Democrats in leadership are 76 (Pelosi), 77 (Steny Hoyer) and 76 (Jim Clyburn). The top three Republican leaders, in contrast, are 46 (Paul Ryan), 51 (Kevin McCarthy) and 51 (Steve Scalise)."
Enter Tim Ryan. In addition to being younger (43), Ryan is also from a region that could be considered ground zero for Democrats' shrinking influence. As The Post's Paul Kane points out, the county anchoring his Youngstown-area district is an old steel manufacturing town that President Obama won in 2012 by 30,000 votes. Hillary Clinton won it in 2016 by 3,000 votes.
But Democrats' struggles in Ohio may work against Ryan's leadership bid. Although Ryan won reelection overwhelmingly, if you tally up the vote totals of the counties in his district, it looks like they voted for Donald Trump by three points -- even though Ryan was a top Clinton surrogate charged with getting out the vote in Ohio. A top Democratic aide in the House points out Ryan hasn't even paid all of his committed dues to help Democrats over the past two cycles.
That aide characterized the unrest among House Democrats as less focused on Pelosi and more focused on whether Democrats should institute term limits for committees, as House Republicans have. That's not something Pelosi can just wave her hand and fix.
A handful of newer members say they are are agitating for broader change than committee chairs.
In 2016, House Democrats were projected to pick up anywhere from half a dozen to 20 seats, in part because Republicans had done so well in recent elections that there was nowhere for them to go but down. Pelosi predicted 30, then downgraded to 20.
They ended up netting six.
“We did worse than the lowest estimates for how many seats we would take back," lamented Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a younger, newer member leading the drive to challenge leadership, to the Boston Herald recently. “The American people sent a very clear message that the status quo is unacceptable.”
And to some newer House Democrats, the status quo starts with Pelosi, who's been leader for almost 10 years. From their perspective, it may not be entirely her fault they're in this situation, but Democrats are at such a low point, some don't see any other option but to kick out the old and try the new — whatever that may be.