- Nancy Pelosi told the NYT that Biden’s actions made it “almost impossible” to have a primary.
- She joins the chorus of Democrats blaming Biden for Harris’ loss on Tuesday.
- Pelosi was instrumental in pressuring Biden to end his presidential bid.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi is blaming President Joe Biden in part for President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on Wednesday.
In an interview with the New York Times, Pelosi implied Biden should have dropped his presidential bid earlier and made time for an open primary. The titan of Democratic politics was considered an instrumental part of the pressure campaign to push Biden aside this summer.
“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi told the Times on Thursday. She said that she thought his departure would pave the way for an open primary, rather than the swift, unimpeded acceptance of Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee.
“The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” Pelosi said in the interview, which will be published in its entirety on Saturday.
Pelosi said that Harris likely would have done well in the primary, but Biden’s actions made a genuine fight for the nomination nearly unthinkable. While some Democrats floated having a late primary, the idea never gained momentum.
“Because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different,” Pelosi said in the interview. It took Biden less than an hour after dropping out to endorse Harris.
When asked for comment, Pelosi’s office provided additional contextual quotes from the interview that they said were not published in the Times’ article on Friday. Her office said the quotes come from the same section of the interview where Pelosi talked about the open primary.
On the topic of an open primary, her office said that Pelosi told the Times, “Kamala, I think, still would’ve won, but she may have been stronger having taken her case to the public sooner.”
The office also provided context on Pelosi’s discussion of Harris’ campaign, saying the speaker said in the interview, “I don’t think that any review of the election should be predicated on weaknesses, but strengths of Kamala Harris. She gave people hope. She caused a great deal of excitement in all this.”
Many Democrats are blaming Biden for Harris’ stunning failure on Tuesday, saying that she couldn’t escape his abysmal approval rating and voters’ perception that he had mismanaged the economy. At times, Harris failed to draw a distinction between herself and her boss — when asked in an interview what she’d do differently from the president, she said “there is not a thing that comes to mind.”
Though Pelosi was careful to praise Biden’s administration and legislative accomplishments while talking to the Times, she’s long expressed frustration with the president’s political operation. She told reporters at the Democratic National Convention in August that she didn’t regret her role in getting Biden to drop out of the race, saying that “the country is very happy.”
On Tuesday, Pelosi won her 20th term representing California as Democrats across the country suffered blows.
A representative for Biden did not immediately provide comment.
November 8, 2024 — This story has been updated to include comments from Pelosi’s office.
