Senior House Dem: Time for ‘a new generation of leaders’

WASHINGTON – A senior House Democrat says it’s time for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other veteran leaders to make way for a new generation of party leaders.

Rep. Linda Sanchez of California says she thinks it’s “time to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders, and I want to be a part of that transition. I want to see that happen.”

Sanchez is 48. She told C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” Thursday that Pelosi, 77, and her top two deputies do a “tremendous job,” but she said too many younger lawmakers “don’t always get the opportunities that they should.”

The comments by Sanchez, the fifth-highest ranking House Democrat, were the strongest challenge yet by a Democratic leader to Pelosi’s iron grip on the caucus.