WASHINGTON _ Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi met with her potential competition for the speaker's gavel on Friday, Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, who left the meeting still contemplating a bid.
"No," Fudge told reporters when asked if Pelosi asked her not to run. "What she asked me was basically how we could get to a point where I could be supportive."
Asked if such a point exists, even if she opts not to run against Pelosi, Fudge said, "There is a point, yes, but it's going to take some."
She talked to Pelosi about some of the issues she has and said she needed some more time to talk to people and think about whether she will run against her. The Ohio Democrat is headed home for Thanksgiving and plans to announce a decision shortly after the holiday.
Asked if the meeting encouraged her toward running, Fudge said, "No, but it didn't discourage me either."
Fudge said she hasn't decided yet if she does run whether she'd seek the caucus nomination on Nov. 28, in which only a simple majority vote is needed to be selected the caucus's choice for speaker, or challenge Pelosi during the floor vote Jan. 3.
The latter seems less like an official bid for speaker, since Fudge would be able to prevent Pelosi's election without having enough votes on her side either. It's unclear how such a showdown would be resolved but it could involve multiple ballots on the floor.
But clearly Pelosi is trying to avoid a floor fight. Fudge said Pelosi, understandably, seems to try to unify the Democratic Caucus as quickly as possible.
Pelosi said in a statement that her conversation with Fudge was "candid and respectful."
Among the issues Fudge said where discussed was succession planning and "the feeling in the caucus of people who are feeling out and left behind."
Pelosi has said previously that she views herself as a transition leader but Fudge did not gain clarity from her Friday on how long Pelosi plans to stick around.
"I'd like to know what her plans are," Fudge said. "She did not share them with me, but I think that it is something that our caucus is interested in."
Fudge said she talked to Pelosi about the growing support she has behind her if she chooses to run but did not share specific numbers. She said she's gotten so many phone calls about it that she's not been able to get much sleep.
And despite Pelosi claiming Thursday that if the speaker election were held that day, she would have the votes to win the gavel, Fudge said the opposite Friday.
To be clear, Fudge noted her consideration of challenging Pelosi isn't meant to undermine what the leader has accomplished.
"Nancy Pelosi was a very, very good leader and is a very good leader," she said. "I don't want anyone to go away and think that this a personal issue. ... Sometimes you just need a different voice, sometimes you just need a different kind of a vision."
