The push to replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket after his halting debate performance in June seemed at an impasse until Nancy Pelosi got involved. The congresswoman and former House Speaker publicly urged the president to make a decision on the race (even though he already had) while privately taking calls from uneasy members of her caucus concerned about November.
In the weeks since Biden ceded the nomination to Vice-President Kamala Harris, Pelosi has been careful to not take direct credit for the president stepping aside. In an interview with CNN Monday, she said she had nothing to do with close House allies like Representatives Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren calling for Biden to drop his bid. “It’s almost insulting to them because they’re formidable figures in the Congress of the United States. They make their own judgment and their own statement,” Pelosi said.
But Pelosi is starting to give a more thorough view of the Biden campaign as she embarks on a press tour to promote her new book, The Art of Power. During a recent encounter with reporters, the Washington Post reported, Pelosi said she did not have faith in the campaign’s ability to win in November. “We did not have a campaign that was on the path to victory. Members knew that in their districts,” she said.
Per the Post, Pelosi also seemed critical of top Biden adviser Mike Donilon, quipping that she would confuse him with Tom Donilon, a foreign-policy adviser who has aided several presidential campaigns. “I didn’t even know what Donilon did. I thought he was a speechwriter,” she said. “Yeah, I thought he was a speechwriter. Isn’t he a speechwriter?”
When The New Yorker’s David Remnick asked about her appearance on Morning Joe that was largely believed to have turned the tide against Biden, Pelosi praised Biden as a “really fantastic president of the United States” but suggested his campaign wasn’t considering the true state of the race.
“I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation,” she told the outlet. “They won the White House. Bravo. But my concern was, this ain’t happening, and we have to make a decision for this to happen. The president has to make the decision for that to happen.”
Pelosi maintained that she never personally made any calls to hasten Biden’s departure but merely took calls from others in her party. “People were calling. I never called one person. I kept true to my word. Any conversation I had, it was just going to be with him. I never made one call. They said I was burning up the lines, I was talking to Chuck [Schumer]. I didn’t talk to Chuck at all,” she said.
Throughout the media blitz, Pelosi has seemed reflective on her long personal relationship with Biden, which has spanned decades throughout their time in Democratic politics and in Congress. She said she hasn’t talked to the president since he announced his decision to drop out of the race on July 21. When Pelosi spoke with The New Yorker, she conceded that she has lost sleep over whether their relationship will survive the political turmoil of the past few weeks. “I hope so,” she said. “I pray so. I cry so.”
