leadership election. do you have specifics on that? rep. jeffries: i'll be having the conversation with leader pelosi, with steny hoyer, with jim clyburn, informally with other members of the house democratic caucus, and then i'll sit down with the three dccc candidates who are here, and then i'll also have a conversation with sean patrick maloney. get everyone's input in terms of the candidate. hear what the members of the house democratic caucus have to say, and then we'll proceed from there. thank you, everyone. reporter: thank you. reporter: thank you. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] rep. pelosi: good afternoon, everyone. and i do believe it is a good afternoon. we had a most unifying session just now in the house democratic caucus. the new house democratic caucus, the most diverse democratic -- ah, caucus ever, and it was so inspiring to hear my colleagues place my name in nomination, once again, for speaker of the house. how moving it was to hear joe kennedy place the name in nomination, to be seconded by kathy castor, a colleague who has been the lead in climate change issues and the rest. of course joe, a friend for many years, but a leader in the congress, making his own mark.

and then to have joyce beatty speaking her own right, but to quote president obama, it was very moving. the emotions demonstrated by my colleague, adam schiff, when he talked about leadership and the challenges facing our nation was a joy to behold. and the new members, to have the new members speak out with us now is congresswoman veronica escobar, one of the new members, who spoke in placing my name in nomination about our shared values. we are also joined by a member who is very special to me because she is a new member -- she is a member of this class, but she is also a returning member. ann kirkpatrick of arizona. a woman of great courage who voted for the affordable care act. didn't come back. said it was worth it. and is here again.

thank you, ann, for joining us. and of course, nobody could ever have an honor quite like having this display of friends place my name in nomination and then to have john lewis wrap it all up in such a beautiful way, not about me but about our challenges, and about the need to unify for the future. so i am very, very, just so inspired by it all and so grateful to my colleagues for what they have done to place my name in nomination. in the course of these last days and weeks, it's been my privilege to listen to new members, listen to our members who have been here a while, hear their views about how we go forward, convinced that everything we said in the campaign about a congress, a new congress, that is open and transparent, that is accountable to the people, that is unifying in how we do our work and

therefore bipartisan to the extent possible, is something that i think that we can with great dignity present to the american people as we have set our agenda for the people. lower health care costs, bigger paychecks, dignity and integrity in government, and some other issues as we move forward. we're going to have a congress, sessions of congress, that are like america's town hall meetings, where the miracle of technology will enable us to communicate very directly and the social media help us engage the public, be responsive to them, and also to mobilize around the issues of importance to us and amass the resources, intellectual and political, to re-elect this very spectacular class as we move to again

winning the white house in 2020. i couldn't be more honored. that is a figure of speech, but it's a fact in this case, as true as any statement anyone could ever make, to be honored by the nominations of those who placed my name in nomination and the support that i have from our colleagues in this caucus. as i say, our diversity is our strength, but our unity is our power. and we will use that power again in a unifying way for our country. i'm very proud. we look forward to the results, whatever they are. they will be intense and they will be a vote of confidence to send my name to the floor that i'm proud to be the nominee of the house democratic caucus,, once again, for speaker of the house. again, in a congress where we will observe the 100th anniversary of women having the

right to vote. a very special honor. so thank you all. reporters: [indiscernible] rep. pelosi: i think we are in pretty good shape, but i don't want to make other people's announcements for them. but we go forward with confidence and humility. reporter: kathleen rice put out a statement saying that she met she met with you and you dismissed her concerns outright. rep. pelosi: i'm talking about scores of members of congress who just gave me a vote, giving me a vote of confidence. that is where our focus is. are there dissenters? yes. but i expect to have a powerful vote as we go forward. any other questions? any other reporter: when you went to the

white house that one time, you can back and said, do women get to talk around him? how do you think president trump is going to react to having to work with a woman in such a position of power as you will hold as speaker? rep. pelosi: i think that -- i will say this. when i was speaker and president bush was president, he treated me and the office i hold with great respect. he would jokingly call me number three. he's number one, the vice president is number two, i was number three. he never began a meeting unless the speaker was present. we worked together on many issues relating to energy, passing the biggest energy bill in the history of our country. he wanted pepfar, we have pepfar, issues that related to tax policies that gave refundabilities toward people in our country. the list goes on and on. i would expect nothing less than that from this president of the united states.

we are a coequal branch of government. my power there springs from the vote of members of the house of representatives. i think the president will be respectful of that. reporter: you have been a leader for a long time. what was different about the vote this time? rep. pelosi: this is all the same. i've always had an opponent. one time i did not have an opponent. i have always had -- not an opponent, but opposition. today it did not materialize into an opponent. every congress, i spend a lot of time listening to members. new members and members who are returning, to hear what their prospects are for the future. so when people said, you're so busy, i said, no busier than ever because every congress i listen, i learn, we incorporate, we are invigorated by new members coming in and new thinking of our members.

so this was no different than any ever before. it is different in that we have an historic freshman class by dint of their experience, their diversity, their gender -- it's something very, very special. and let us just take a moment to dwell on the fact that we are in the majority. majority, majority, majority. [applause] rep. pelosi: and that our ranking members, in a matter of weeks will be madame and mister chair. that is a great thing for the american people. we have been deputized to be a check and balance on the president and other branches of government and we will do that with dignity. thank you all very much. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] >> i think there were no surprises today. it was not a terribly productive conversation. we knew she was going to get the majority vote, but it also established very clearly what we have been saying all along, which is she does not have the ability to get votes on the floor. none of us want to pick a short-term fight, but the voters