The decision by the Maryland Democrat, who has served in Congress for four decades — two of them in leadership — reflected a generational and demographic shift afoot in his party.
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Representative Steny H. Hoyer is the longest-serving House Democrat.
WASHINGTON — As Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered a historic speech on the House floor last month announcing her decision to step back from leadership and allow “a new generation to lead,” Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat, sat in the front row looking glum.
Mr. Hoyer, 83, the longest-serving House Democrat, has for decades operated in Ms. Pelosi’s shadow, his frustrated aspirations to become speaker at times barely concealed. After Ms. Pelosi made a splashy announcement about her plans, he put out a lengthy letter to his colleagues saying that he, too, would step down from leadership.
Asked by reporters how he felt about it, he said: “Not good.”
Tributes poured in for Ms. Pelosi, the first woman to be speaker, and news coverage reflected on the legacy of the Democratic Party’s dominant political operator. The exit of Mr. Hoyer — who led the charge in the House to enact the Americans with Disabilities Act and wrote the Help America Vote Act, a measure to clean up federal elections that became law in 2002 — was treated as a footnote, and the party quickly moved on to salute the rise of a diverse group of younger leaders who had been waiting for years to move up.
It was, in some ways, a fitting finale for Mr. Hoyer, whose ambitions over two decades have sometimes been squeezed by Ms. Pelosi, a onetime rival for power whose carefully choreographed finale effectively signaled the end of the road for her longtime second-in-command. And it reflected a shift afoot in his party, which increasingly is powered by young people, people of color and progressives, but is still represented at its highest levels by older white men like himself and President Biden, both centrists.
In an interview, Mr. Hoyer, who has served 41 years in the House — almost 20 of them as one of his party’s top leaders — appeared at peace with his decision to step aside, insisting there was no bitterness about passing the baton.
“You’re ambitious, you want to go some place — I’ve been there,” Mr. Hoyer said this week. “When I was 40, or when I was 60, I kept thinking about what’s next.”
But in his 80s, he said he feels comfortable with the role he has played and his place in history.
“I think Nancy is the best speaker we’ve had, so I was the No. 2,” Mr. Hoyer said. “But I was the No. 2 to someone who people think is, in history, one of the five top speakers who we’ve had. What am I going to offer?
“I’m good, OK — ‘You’re good, Hoyer,’ ” he went on.
Mr. Hoyer said his forlorn attitude the day of Ms. Pelosi’s announcement wasn’t about his own future, but rather the misfortunes of his party, which came closer than anyone expected to maintaining control of the House but ultimately fell short.
ImageMr. Hoyer waited to announce he would step down from leadership until Speaker Nancy Pelosi had made her own plans clear.Credit…Kenny Holston for The New York Times
If Democrats had kept the majority, Mr. Hoyer said Ms. Pelosi likely would have pushed to stay on as speaker, and that Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3, would have followed suit. That could have led to a divisive fight between a new generation eager to take over and an old guard clinging to the top; Ms. Pelosi had pledged in 2018 that she would not seek to remain at the helm of her party past 2022.
Instead, Democrats lost narrowly and had a civilized and seamless transition, which culminated this week with the uncontested election of Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, as the minority leader, making him the first Black man to head a congressional caucus.
A New U.S. Congress Takes Shape
Following the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats maintained control of the Senate while Republicans flipped the House.
- Divided Government: What does a split Congress mean for the next two years? Most likely a gridlock that could lead to government shutdowns and economic turmoil.
- Democratic Leadership: House Democrats elected Hakeem Jeffries as their next leader, ushering in a generational shift that includes women and people of color in all the top posts for the first time.
- G.O.P. Leadership: After a midterms letdown, Representative Kevin McCarthy and Senator Mitch McConnell faced threats to their power from an emboldened right flank.
- Ready for Battle: An initiative by progressive groups called Courage for America is rolling out a coordinated effort to counter the new Republican House majority and expected investigations of the Biden administration.
Mr. Hoyer said he had considered seeking to hang on as the party whip, the second-ranking position in the minority that he had held for a dozen years, but decided against it. That likely came as a relief to Representative Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, who on Tuesday was elected to that post by acclamation.
“The minority whip is a very nice office, it’s a very nice title, but all you’re doing is what the majority leader tells you,” Mr. Hoyer said, explaining why the job didn’t make sense for him, again. “I’ve been re-elected 10 times. If you’re a good leader, you know when there’s a time to go or to stay.”
Other Democrats said privately that Mr. Hoyer simply did not have the votes to win the race.
Whatever the case, his departure may be the hardest landing of any of the top three leaders. Though Ms. Pelosi she said she would not attempt to play any role advising the new team, Democrats this week voted to name her “speaker emerita,” an honorific to reflect her legacy. And while Mr. Clyburn agreed to step down from the No. 3 position, he did so as part of a deal that would reorder the rankings of the party’s leadership structure and allow him to run for the post of assistant Democratic leader, a post to which he was elected on Thursday in an uncontested race.
He said he had a long chat with Mr. Hoyer before they both announced their plans.
“Both of us saw this trio as a significant element in the party’s future,” he said of Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Clark and Representative Pete Aguilar of California, who was elected No. 3. “I didn’t know what Steny was going to do; I never asked him. I felt from our discussions that both of us felt that these three people were needed in those positions.”
Mr. Clyburn said his decision to stay on in leadership came out of his conversations with the Congressional Black Caucus about the importance of having two Black lawmakers in the ranks of leadership, and one representing the South.
“We all felt the need, the C.B.C. felt the need, to maintain this kind of continuity and make for a smooth transition,” he said.
Mr. Hoyer’s departure means that in the next Congress, for the first time in either chamber or party, House Democrats’ trio of top leaders will include no one who looks like him.
“I think we need white men, still; I hope there’s some place for white men somewhere,” he joked. But he was less focused on the significance of electing the first Black person as a party leader, pointing instead to Mr. Jeffries’s accomplishments.
“Jeffries, of whatever color, he is an extraordinary talent,” he said.
Mr. Hoyer also said the narrative that his party needed to make way for a new generation of leaders was slightly overblown.
“I kept thinking, ‘Why are they saying that, as if Jeffries, Aguilar and Clark were new people?’” he said, noting that the three had served in leadership for years, albeit in lower-ranking positions. “We encouraged them, we included them.”
Mr. Hoyer, whose wife died of cancer in 1997, said he is now in a “great relationship” and ready to move onto the next phase of his career.
“I have a great family, I have a great relationship that I’m in, it’s a good time,” he said. “Think of the responsibility I no longer have!”
ImageMr. Hoyer will remain in Congress and serve on the Appropriations Committee.Credit…Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
It is a sense of serenity that friends and colleagues of Mr. Hoyer say is evident these days.
Senator Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican who served opposite Mr. Hoyer when both were their respective party’s whips in the House, said he visited his old friend the morning after his announcement, to check in.
“He seemed like he was really looking forward to what comes next and felt that passing the leadership along to a new generation was a good thing,” Mr. Blunt said.
Mr. Hoyer will remain in Congress and serve on the powerful Appropriations Committee, which controls federal spending, but said he would not challenge Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut for the top Democratic position on the committee.
But he does not expect to be treated like any anonymous backbencher. He said he would offer the new trio of leaders advice, if they seek it, on how to wrangle the diverse Democratic caucus, and on filling out staff.
“I’m egomaniacal enough to think that if I’m walking around, people will think, ‘Oh there’s Steny Hoyer,’ and the members will be the same, asking ‘What do you think,’” he said.
Ultimately, he said, he is departing as a happy warrior.
“I just feel really blessed,” he said, looking around the stately conference room in the Longworth Building that will be his main convening space when he no longer occupies the majority leader’s office.
“I’ve fallen to having to have this as my conference room. ‘Poor Steny,’” he said. “Give me a break!”
Source: nytimes.com
