Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), one Pelosi detractor, hammered the argument that the California Democrat’s promotion is the only way to secure female leadership at the very top of the party.

“To those who say that this is an issue of gender, that’s just not true. I’m a woman, and a lot of our new members are women, and they should not be made to feel that they are anti-woman if they don’t want to vote for Nancy Pelosi,” Rice said Wednesday, leaving a closed-door Democratic meeting in the Capitol.

“We have an enormous number of talented women in the caucus — an enormous number.”