Nancy Pelosi wanted Tim Walz to be Kamala Harris' running mate. And Pelosi gets what she wants.
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Nancy Pelosi is a master at influencing the Democratic Party, and she scored another win this week with Kamala Harris' VP pick.
Harris, who is now officially the Democratic presidential nominee, announced on Tuesday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be her running mate.
And Pelosi expressed her full support of Walz on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" broadcast Tuesday morning.
"Tim Walz is wonderful," Pelosi told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, adding, "He has a great vision for our country. It's about working class families, about rural America, about our veterans."
Before he became governor of Minnesota, Walz served in the House alongside Pelosi from 2007 to 2019.
And though the two did not see eye to eye on every issue — Pelosi once blocked Walz's bid to become ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee — Pelosi still favored Walz above Harris' other VP contenders, The Hill reported last week.
When asked who Pelosi liked for the VP pick, a source close to her told The Hill that she "is always especially fond of former House colleagues" — a reference to Walz, who was the only former House member in the running for the VP role.
It's not clear how much influence, if any, Pelosi exerted on Harris' choice of running mate. A representative for Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
But regardless, it's clear that Pelosi has enough political sway to push for what she wants.
Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, the California Democrat and former House Speaker had been quietly working behind the scenes to oust Biden from the race.
And even in public, she had skillfully hinted that Biden should drop out, telling MSNBC's "Morning Joe" hosts in July that Biden needed to make a decision about dropping out — despite Biden's repeated assertions at the time that he wasn't going anywhere.
"It was not a question at that time of whether he would run or not," Pelosi told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly in a July 31 interview that aired on Tuesday. "It was a question of whether they would have the campaign that was necessary to win. Because I think that the biggest danger to our country is that what's-his-name would be re-elected president of the United States."
When asked about her power within the party, particularly on Biden's decision to drop out, Pelosi told Kelly that she wasn't the one instigating phone calls with other Democrats. They were the ones coming to her with their concerns about Biden staying in the race, she said.
"I did not call one person," Pelosi told Kelly. "I read in the press that I was burning up the phone lines. I didn't call one person, people called me. Some of them I received their calls. Some of them I didn't — didn't even have time to."
Pelosi told Kelly that she has not spoken to Biden since he made his decision to drop out public. And on Monday, CNN's Dana Bash asked Pelosi if her relationship with Biden is okay, and she answered, "You'd have to ask him. But I hope so."
