Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a New York The Times podcast interview, published Friday, blamed Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss on President Joe Biden’s late exit from the presidential race and the lack of a Democratic primary.
Pelosi told “The Interview” host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that “if the president (Biden) had come out earlier, there might have been other candidates in the race,” the newspaper said in a story about the interview Thursday. The exchange will not be published in full until Saturday.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) arrives as supporters wait to hear Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris accept the election at Howard University on November 6, 2024 in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“The hope was that if the president stepped aside, there would be an open primary,” Pelosi said.
“And like I say, Kamala could have, I think she would have done well in that and she would have been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened. And because the president accepted it. Kamala Harris immediately, that made it almost impossible at the time If it had been much earlier to have a primary, it would have been different,” he added.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the results of the 2024 election and the next presidential transition at the White House on November 7, 2024 in Washington, USA.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
ABC News reports that Pelosi worked behind the scenes to get Biden to drop out of the presidential race after his performance at the CNN debate.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech after the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Pelosi also discussed it, The Times reported Independent Senator Bernie Sanders said: After Harris’ loss, “It should come as no surprise to find that a Democratic Party that has abandoned the working class has abandoned the working class.”
“Bernie Sanders has not won,” he said. “With all due respect, and I have a lot of respect for him, for what he stands for, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned working families.”
The paper reported that he suggested cultural issues were more to blame for the Democrats’ loss among working-class voters.
“Guns, Gods and gays say so,” he said. “Guns, that’s a problem; gays, that’s a problem, and now the trans issue is becoming so important in their priorities; and in some communities, what they call God, what we call a woman’s right to choose.”
