Sen. Claire McCaskill has said she refuses to support Sen. Harry Reid in his re-election as the party's leader in the Senate, saying she is taking her cue from voters who turned against the party in the midterm elections.
"Yesterday I met with Harry Reid and told him I would not be supporting him for Minority Leader," the Missouri Democrat said in a statement to
The Kansas City Star.
"I heard the voters of Missouri loud and clear. They want change in Washington. Common sense tells me that begins with changes in leadership," she added.
Congress is holding its leadership elections Thursday after Democrats lost control of the upper chamber.
There is currently no known challenger to Reid, who serves as the majority leader and is set to become the minority leader when the new Congress convenes in January. Democrats are nevertheless still reeling from their electoral defeats with some implying Reid is partially to blame.
"We have to do some serious soul-searching to ask why so many of our colleagues lost races," Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine
told The Hill.
"They were not bad public servants. They weren't bad candidates. We have to ask why they lost."
Notably, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin refused to commit to Reid when questioned by Bloomberg Wednesday.
"I'm interested in hearing the discussion," he said, according to The Hill.
Meanwhile, in the House, there are also no plans for a shake-up at the top of the party.
Nancy Pelosi is expected to maintain her position as the party's caucus leader, though in the aftermath of the elections, New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell called for delaying the leadership elections to give members the chance to "take inventory,"
The Hill reported.
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