House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stayed out of the presidential race while the primary was raging, but now that former Vice President Joe Biden has no opponents left in the field, she is praising the former vice president.
In an interview with Politico this week, Pelosi said of Biden, “I think he’s fabulous. He’s a person of great values, great patriotism.”
The speaker and the former Vice President have a long history. They served together in Congress for decades and she worked with the Obama administration during her first term as speaker of the House to pass the Obamacare bill. The two are also devout Catholics.
In her conversation with Politico, Pelosi added that Biden “knows the role of government — that we don’t want more than we want or than we need, but we need to have as much as required to do the job and meet the needs of the American people.”
She continued, “I think he’ll be a great nominee, and an even greater president of the United States.”
While Pelosi has sometimes butted heads with the progressive wing of the party, particularly the young freshmen, she said that she would have been comfortable with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as the nominee if he trounced Biden in the primary.
In a press conference in mid-March, Pelosi also shot down the suggestion that Bernie should exit the race, saying, “In case you were going to ask, no, I don’t think Bernie Sanders should get out of the race. … I know the enthusiasm of supporters for candidates. And they want to see it play out, the ideas the causes, that the candidate advances. And for the opportunity for people to show their support.”
Sanders left the race on Wednesday as the barnstorming campaigning ground to a halt under the coronavirus pandemic. But he remains hopeful that his message will translate to Biden’s vision and said that he believes that the former vice president will move in a more progressive direction.
