Democrats to determine leaders after disappointing election

House Democrats on Wednesday will launch the delicate affair of choosing their leadership team in the next Congress, a routine exercise that’s taken on outsized significance following the party's battering at the polls two weeks ago.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top lieutenants — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) — are all running uncontested, setting the stage for the same power lineup to return for another term after 14 years together at the helm.

That grip on authority comes even despite some...