Jason Crow breaks promise to oppose Nancy Pelosi for Speaker

Jason Crow ran as an alleged moderate in 2018 and pledged to vote against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House.

Crow abandoned that promise this week by pledging to back Pelosi for Speaker when the new Congress convenes in January.

Fellow former Pelosi antagonist Ed Perlmutter also fell in line behind Pelosi, according to Colorado Public Radio.

Crow’s disregard for his campaign promises is likely connected to the fact he is seeking a leadership position in upcoming Democrat caucus elections.

However, several other Democrats from moderate districts are openly rebelling against Pelosi after Democrats suffered a series of losses in the House this year, including failing to defeat Lauren Boebert in CO-3.

At least one member of the moderate, national security Democrats has said she will not be voting for Pelosi. Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, one of the many freshman Democratic moderates who faced tough re-election races this year, told Politico, “I believe we need new leadership. I would love to see more Midwesterners, because if you look across the leadership…I respect these people, but it’s New York and California.”

Meanwhile, Pelosi is refusing to accept any responsibility for unexpected losses in the House.

In 2018 Pelosi encouraged Democrat challengers like Crow to campaign against her before releasing those new members to cast meaningless votes against her Speakership.

Since then Crow has emerged as a reliably partisan loyalist, toeing the party line on everything from Pelosi’s efforts to stall additional COVID relief to serving as a House impeachment manager.

While Crow didn’t exactly face a well funded opponent in 2020, his lockstep support for Pelosi exhibits remarkable arrogance for someone coming from a swing district like CO-6.

It’s hardly a secret that voters in Denver suburbs weren’t exactly fond of President Trump, but Crow is kidding himself if he thinks wedding his career to one of the most unpopular politicians over the last decade is a long-term winning strategy in a district that has historically despised Pelosi’s coastal elitism.

Pelosi is one of the most unpopular figures in the last decade of American politics. According to RealClearPolitics, her average favorability rating stands at just 38%, compared to a 52% unfavorable rating — numbers that are worse than President Trump’s at the time of writing. Pelosi’s numbers have been this poor for quite some time. In January 2007, shortly after she was first sworn in as speaker of the House, an ABC News/ Washington Post poll found Pelosi enjoying a 54% favorable rating, compared to a 25% unfavorable rating. But last fall, the ABC/ Post poll found her approval rating at just 38%, roughly in line with where her numbers in RealClearPolitics are today.