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Nancy Pelosi’s Potential Replacement Facing Complaints She Violated STOCK Act

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible replacement has landed herself in hot water.

Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark, a Democrat from Massachusetts, missed a deadline for disclosing her financial transactions, which may total more than a quarter of $1 million.

“Now Clark is facing complaints regarding allegations she violated the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act — better known as the STOCK Act,” Fox Business reported.

“The act made headlines during Congress’s insider trading scandal last year. Several congress members sold stock in companies vulnerable to the pandemic the same day as a private briefing for the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The private sector hadn’t yet been warned about the full extent of the pandemic, and the stock market crashed shortly afterward, in February 2020. In March 2020, the Department of Justice launched an investigation into the scandal, but it has since closed the case without prosecuting anyone,” Fox Business added.

Section 6 of the STOCK Act requires Congressmembers to “file reports within 30 to 45 days after receiving notice of a purchase, sale, or exchange which exceeds $1,000 in stocks, bonds, commodities futures, and other forms of securities.”

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On June 4, Clark’s husband traded stocks in pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, data management company Iron Mountain, Google’s Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., and many, many more. Clark waited until Aug. 15 to disclose her husbands transactions, the ethics complaint states, according to Fox Business.

Speculation and rumors are beginning to mount that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could be on her way out in the near future.

As noted by Axios, Pelosi has already suggested this is her final term as House Speaker.

And it appears there may be a new frontrunner to replace Pelosi if she does step down: Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Katherine Clark.

“Clark has built up a pile of chits in just under eight years in Congress, rising to the assistant speaker — her party’s fourth highest-ranking slot in the House, and just one notch ahead of Jeffries,” Axios reported.

While speaking with Axios, Clark dodged when asked if she is the best person to be the next speaker.

“I don’t know, but I can tell you that those are going to be tall stilettos to fill,” she said.

No matter what happens with Pelosi, Democrats should be very worried that they will lose control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections.

According to a new poll from Democracy Corps, enthusiasm among Republicans to vote in the midterm elections outpaces Democrats by double digits.

The survey found that 68% of Republicans remain engaged ahead of 2022. Meanwhile, Democrats have seen their engagement slip to 57%, an 11-point cushion for the GOP.

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The survey also found that Republican voters remain firmly in the camp of Trump, with only 16% of Republicans identifying as “non-Trump conservatives.”

The survey comes as the GOP is poised to take back the House next November and could even regain control of the Senate.

Thirty-seven percent cited as their top priority “D.C. corruption/dysfunction,” followed by 18% who said immigration, 10% who said healthcare, and 10% who said jobs and the economy.

Republicans need a net gain of 5 seats to regain the House majority in the midterms next November.

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House Republicans also have history on their side as they aim to regain the chamber.

The party that controls the White House, which is currently the Democrats, on average loses roughly 25 House seats in the midterm elections.

And the once-in-a-decade redistricting process – pegged to the 2020 census – is expected to generally favor Republicans over Democrats.

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