WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — In a post-Election Day shake-up on Capitol Hill, Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri has decided not to run for another term next week as Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, party sources said Wednesday.
Gephardt plans to make the announcement in Washington Thursday, two days after failing to help his party win back control of the House from eight years of Republican rule, the sources said.
His announcement will set off a race to replace him by House Democratic whip Nancy Pelosi of California and House Democratic Caucus chairman Martin Frost of Texas, aides said.
Though there was some high profile grumbling by some Democrats about Gephardt Wednesday, several party and House sources said the 61-year-old Missouri Democrat could have won another term as leader if he wanted it.
“The sense is that he wants out to make a bid for the White House,” one leadership aide said. “He has clearly shown in the past year that he wants to run for president.”
If Democrats had taken back the House, Gephardt would have been a party hero. He would also have been crowned in the new Congress in January as House speaker, which would have made him the nation’s top-elected Democrat.
Instead, with Republicans holding the House, Gephardt’s political stock dropped. Yet as one party official said: “He still remains one of our top White House contenders.”
Republicans scored big victories nationwide Tuesday to increase their majority in the House and win back the Senate, giving them control of both ends of Capitol Hill.
While Gephardt decided in the aftermath not to seek another term as House Democratic leader, Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota plans to run for reelection next week as Senate Democratic leader, a top aide said. The aide said a number of Senate Democrats had contacted Daschle to voice support.
Gephardt and Daschle both earlier said they would decide sometime after Tuesday’s election on whether they would seek the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
Aides said Gephardt planned to announce Thursday he will not run for reelection as House Democratic leader, a post he has held since 1989. But it was unclear if he would have anything to say about a possible White House bid.
“I think he is leaving all of his options open,” one aide said. “He has a lot to think about.”
Some House Democrats voiced discontent with Gephardt Wednesday. As Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee told CBS News, “The manager in the clubhouse could be the most beloved fellow in the clubhouse, but if he can’t produce victories for the team, you have to find another job for him.”
Gephardt has been trying to win back control of the House since Jan. 4, 1995, the day he handed over the House gavel to then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, leader of the 1994 “Republican Revolution,” which saw Republicans win control of the chamber for the first time in 40 years.
“One of the worst days of my life,” Gephardt has often said of the day that his chamber saw the change in command.
In the 1996, 1998 and 2000 elections, Gephardt and fellow Democrats gained House seats, cutting the Republicans’ majority to six seats. But Tuesday, Republicans increased their margin by at least three seats.
Frost, in a statement Wednesday, called Gephardt “a tremendous voice for the Democratic Party” and said, “Whatever step he takes next, I am confident that he will be successful.
Frost also touted his own credentials to become the new House Democratic leader, and said he “had encouraging conversations with a lot of members, and so [he] enter[s] this race with confidence.”
Pelosi, who as the No. 2 House Democrat is the highest-ranking woman ever in Congress, also released a statement Wednesday as she began her campaign to replace Gephardt.
“As leader of the Democrats … Richard Gephardt has set the highest standard,” Pelosi said. “I look forward to building upon the strong foundation he has established.”
