Pelosi suggests that Biden should have dropped out of the campaign sooner, the New York Times reported via Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said that if President Joe Biden had quickly ended his bid for re-election, the Democratic Party would have held a competitive process to nominate his successor.
“If the president had left early, there might have been others who entered the race,” said Pelosi in an interview published by the organization on Thursday. New York Times (NYSE:) the next day. “It was considered that if the president steps down, there will be open primaries.”
Pelosi said she thinks the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen.”
He said since Biden endorsed Harris so quickly, “that made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.”
Donald Trump narrowly defeated Harris in Tuesday’s election to retake the White House.
Biden, 81, ended his re-election bid in July and quickly endorsed Harris after a bitter debate against Trump, 78, raised concerns that he would not be able to beat the former president or complete a second four-year term.
Pelosi reportedly led a behind-the-scenes effort to pressure Biden into leaving his campaign.
Pelosi left her House leadership post after Republicans won control of the chamber in the 2022 election. He remained in the House, however, and was elected to a 20th term on Tuesday.
