House elects Pelosi speaker as Dems take control

Associated Press//January 3, 2019//

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House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who is expected to lead the 116th Congress as speaker of the House, is seated on the House floor at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON — The House has elected Nancy Pelosi as its speaker as Democrats take command of the chamber for the new Congress.

The near party-line majority vote makes her the country’s most powerful Democrat as the party begins two more years of confronting President Donald Trump. Except now, Pelosi’s Democrats will be able to set the House’s legislative agenda and conduct investigations of the Trump administration that Republicans shunned when they held the majority.

Thursday’s vote restores Pelosi to the post the Californian held from 2007 until 2011. She’s the only woman to ever hold the chamber’s top job.

Pelosi, of California, reclaimed the job after Democrats gained 40 seats in the November elections, their biggest pickup in four decades.

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