By Paul Kane and Felicia Sonmez, Washington Post

Beating back a brewing rebellion among Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won election Wednesday to serve as minority leader in the next Congress, two weeks after her party’s historic losses in the midterm elections.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) defeated her only challenger, conservative Democrat Heath Shuler (N.C.), by a secret vote of 150 to 43. Those votes against Pelosi served as a benchmark of the size of the bloc of Democrats who oppose her continued presence in leadership.

Pelosi did not speak before the vote, according to Democratic aides in the room. She was nominated for the post by a quartet of lawmakers who covered the regional and ideological makeup of the caucus. Two members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, which was cut in half by the midterm election, and a fellow North Carolinian, Larry Kissell, spoke on Shuler’s behalf, followed by an attempt at unifying the caucus by the former Redskins quarterback.