Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was narrowly defeated Wednesday in her bid to break into House Democratic leadership, a loss she blamed on barriers for women of color. Democratic incumbents and incoming members who were elected this month voted behind closed doors for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries over Lee for party caucus chair. The vote was 123 to 113. The contest for the Democrats’ No. 5 job pitted the progressive Lee, who would have been the first African American woman elected to the House hierarchy of either party.. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, said... members should have the “courage” to make their votes public. “It was very disappointing... because I think Barbara Lee has shown extraordinary leadership in her career... It’s about time that we have to say what we mean and mean what we say, which means rather than have secret ballots we should have public ballots... Because there’s this game that some of my colleagues play where they say one thing to one member and then say something to another member.”

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was narrowly defeated Wednesday in her bid to break into House Democratic leadership, a loss she blamed on barriers for women of color. Democratic incumbents and incoming members who were elected this month voted behind closed doors for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries over Lee for party caucus chair. The vote was 123 to 113. The contest for the Democrats’ No. 5 job pitted the progressive Lee, who would have been the first African American woman elected to the House hierarchy of either party.. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, said... members should have the “courage” to make their votes public. “It was very disappointing... because I think Barbara Lee has shown extraordinary leadership in her career... It’s about time that we have to say what we mean and mean what we say, which means rather than have secret ballots we should have public ballots... Because there’s this game that some of my colleagues play where they say one thing to one member and then say something to another member.”" in the context of "Rep. Barbara Lee narrowly defeated in bid for House Dem leadership job, by Tal Kopan San Francisco Chronicle (28 Nov 2018)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.