Second ranking House Democrat expects Pelosi to be speaker

The longtime number two House Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, told CNN on Friday that he expects House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to return as House speaker after the November midterm elections swept the party back into power.

Posted 4:28 p.m. Nov 9, 2018 — Updated 4:28 p.m. Nov 9, 2018

Alex Rogers

, CNN

(CNN) — The longtime number two House Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, told CNN on Friday that he expects House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to return as House speaker after the November midterm elections swept the party back into power.

When asked if he thought Pelosi would be elected as Speaker, the position she held at the end of the George W. Bush and beginning of the Obama administrations, Hoyer said, "That would be my expectation."

While he acknowledged that some Democratic members of Congress might vote against her in the party's initial caucus vote, he said the question then becomes whether they would "organize" as Democrats or Republicans. He added that most would then "come to the conclusion that it was really not an option in that case."

"She certainly has enough votes to be the nominee in the (Democratic) caucus," Hoyer said.

Hoyer has already announced that he would run for House majority leader when Democrats take control of the chamber next year.

Looking ahead to the government's December 7 deadline to avert a government shutdown, Hoyer also said he "certainly" doesn't think that President Donald Trump is "going to get the sum that he's looking for" to build a wall on the US southern border.

"We think the border wall, as you know, is not the best technical way to secure the border," he added. "But I would emphasize there is no Democrat that doesn't want to secure the border. We cannot have people coming into our country who are not authorized to come into our country in an age of terrorism, or simply at any point in time."

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