Democrats rose to their feet as Nancy Pelosi walked on stage at the United Center in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. They clapped and then clapped harder. Pelosi waved before hushing the room.
The former speaker of the House of Representatives began by expressing his gratitude to Joe Biden, calling his term “one of the most successful presidents of our time.” even though he had pushed subtly but forcefully for the president to step aside.
“Thanks, Joe,” she said before turning to Kamala Harris, a fellow California Democrat who Pelosi declared was “ready to take us to new heights.”
Pelosi may have retired as House Democratic leader, but the convention has proven — if proof were needed — that the veteran congressman remains one of the most consequentially and uniquely powerful power brokers in the party who can make — or break — the president of the United States.
Earlier Wednesday, Pelosi, now House Speaker Emerita, was reluctant to reveal details of her conversation with Biden a little more than a month ago, a deeply painful time before she decided to drop her re-election bid and endorse Harris.
Speaking in a stained-glass room at the University Club of Chicago, Pelosi insisted that the monumental decision was Biden’s alone. But when pressed by Democratic strategist David Axelrod, he admitted that he believed Democrats would deny Donald Trump a second term. Costs also denied Biden.
“I wanted very much to protect his legacy,” she said. But his top priority was winning the election — and not just the White House, but the House and Senate.
“A great sacrifice was made here,” said Pelosi, who is seeking a second term in the Nov. 20 election.
The former speaker seemed uncomfortable with the suggestion that he was a central figure in pressuring Biden to end his re-election campaign. This decision has changed the presidential race. Harris’ rise has electrified Democrats and united the party behind a new presidential ticket, including her running mate Tim Walz, a former Minnesota congressman who Pelosi had also endorsed.
“You have to make a decision to win, and you have to make every decision to win,” he said.
Biden has denied that anyone pushed him out of the race. Speaking to reporters Monday as he delivered his farewell speech at the Democratic convention, he said: “No one influenced my decision. No one knew it was coming.”
Pelosi and Biden, devout Catholics who have known each other for decades, have not spoken since he ended his campaign. The rift has weighed on Pelosi, he said. “I’ve cried about this. I’m sad about this,” she said.
Speaking in Chicago, Biden said, “All this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should resign, that’s not true.”
Pelosi, the daughter of Baltimore’s longtime mayor and a student of the city’s brass politics, shared anecdotes from her new book, The Art of Power, about her extraordinary career, which she described as: “housewife, member of the House, speaker of the House.”
She was the first—and, to date, only—female speaker of the House of Representatives, and was the most senior woman in American politics until Harris was elected to serve as the nation’s first female vice president.
“You’ve got to be able to throw a punch, you’ve got to be able to throw a punch … for the kids,” he said with a swagger that drew laughs from the packed audience.
Asked by Axelrod if Harris should emphasize the historic possibility of his candidacy, Pelosi said breaking what Hillary Clinton once called the “tallest, hardest” glass ceiling in American politics was important, but not a political message.
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The prospect of Harris becoming the first female president “brings tears to my eyes,” Pelosi said, but it won’t necessarily bring “votes to the ballot box.”
“It’s the icing on the cake,” he said. “But it’s not cake.”
Pelosi, now considered one of the most influential House speakers in modern political history, said it was not her goal to join the party leadership when she arrived in Washington.
“I got excited about running because we lost elections, ’94, ’96, ’98, and then in 2000 I thought, ‘I’m so tired of losing,'” he said.
Shortly after she made her decision to come forward, Pelosi said she was met with disbelief by her male colleagues and told her to wait her turn.
“Who said he could run?” Pelosi remembered them saying. He was told there was a “pecking order” and he wasn’t on it.
“They said, ‘These people have been waiting a long time,'” Pelosi said. “So I said, ‘Was it over 200 years?'”
Highlights of the Democratic Convention:
