As progressive anger with President Donald Trump spills over, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other top lawmakers are attempting to channel the resistance into legislative victories.
The California Democrat is set to participate in a CNN town hall Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, where she’ll discuss the party’s role in Trump’s presidency. Her appearance will come shortly after Trump announces his first nomination to the Supreme Court.
Out of power and without the same procedural tools that Senate Democrats have to block Trump’s actions, House Democrats’ strength comes mostly from the party’s ability to stick together when Republicans fracture.
She and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led Democratic lawmakers in a protest Monday outside the Supreme Court building against Trump’s executive order banning travel to the United States from seven majority Muslim nations.
There, Pelosi said Democrats shared views “in a bipartisan way with many of our Republican colleagues who agree that what the President did undermines our values and is not in support of the oath of office that we take, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
There was a hiccup — a broken microphone — that led Trump to jab at the Democrats in a tweet Tuesday.
But Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill shot back: “The mic briefly didn’t work, but this thin-skinned President clearly heard the voices of the more than 250 members of Congress and thousands of others who gathered outside the Supreme Court last night.”
Pelosi was speaker from 2007 until the GOP took the House majority in the 2010 wave. She is still the most powerful House Democrat, having staved off a challenge for her leadership post by Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan.
Pelosi, in particular, is a key figure as Democratic groups including Emily’s List attempt to seize on the momentum of the women’s marches around the world less than two weeks ago and recruit female candidates for office.
Democrats are also hoping to turn resistance to Trump into a swing in their favor in House races in the 2018 midterms.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released its initial list of 35 targeted seats Monday — mostly made up of 23 House districts won by Hillary Clinton but held by Republicans, where they believe fury over Trump’s actions could tip the balance in Democrats’ direction.