Congressional Leadership

The congressional leadership elections that I previewed here, have now taken place.

The most significant votes were on the Republican side in the House. And by that I mean significant for the future, not the present. With the enhanced Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, the main job for the Republican leadership will be to lay the groundwork for a future comeback. Their influence on the current running of the Congress is likely to be small.

There were no surprises in the elections to fill vacancies in the number two and number three spots in the House Republican leadership. Eric Cantor of Virginia will be minority whip, and Mike Pence of Indiana will chair the House Republican Conference.

House Democrats chose John Larson of Connecticut to replace Rahm Emanuel as chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Emanuel will leave the House, to become White House chief of staff.

Getting back to the subject of Republicans and the future, this post on The Fix blog on the Washington Post's website, lists 10 "Republicans to watch".