Pelosi on whether Harris is best running mate for Biden: ‘He thinks so’

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) deferred to President Biden when asked whether she thought Vice President Harris was the best running mate for the incumbent in 2024, saying, “He thinks so.”

In an interview Wednesday night on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Pelosi praised the vice president as “politically astute” but deflected when pressed on whether she was the best running mate for Biden.

“He thinks so, and that’s what matters,” she said when first asked.

“And, by the way,” Pelosi continued, not stopping when Cooper asked whether she also thought so, “She’s very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit.”

“She’s, of course, values-based, consistent with the president’s values and the rest,” she added.

Pelosi praised her fellow California Democrat’s ability to make her case to voters about why she is the right candidate for a given position, saying, “People shouldn’t underestimate what Kamala Harris brings to the table.”

“People don’t understand. She’s politically astute. Why would she be vice president if she were not?” she continued. “But when she was running for attorney general in California, she had 6 percent in the polls — 6 percent in the polls. And she politically astutely made her case about why she would be good, did her politics, and became attorney general.”

Pelosi also noted that the job of vice president is often a thankless one that is intended to support the country, and Pelosi said Harris has done that job well.

“She’s the vice president of the United States,” Pelosi said when asked again whether Harris is the best running mate for Biden. “People say to me, ‘Well, why isn’t she doing this or that?’ I say, ‘Because she’s the vice president.’ That’s the job description. You don’t do that much. You know, you, you’re a source of strength, inspiration, intellectual resource.”

“I think she’s represented our country very well at home and abroad,” she added.

Pelosi, who stepped down from leadership at the end of last year, continues to represent the 11th District of California in the House. Her comments on Harris come just under a week after she announced her own 2024 reelection bid.

“I think nothing less is at stake than our democracy in this election,” Pelosi said in the interview Wednesday. “You hear that in the country. You hear that globally. And we have to remove all doubt that our democracy is strong.”

In a statement to The Hill, Pelosi’s spokesperson, Aaron Bennett, stressed Pelosi’s “unequivocal” support for the Biden-Harris ticket and pointed to additional comments Pelosi made in an interview Thursday morning.

“Last night, Speaker Emerita Pelosi, as always, heaped praise on the Vice President — saying that she is values-based, politically astute and represents our country very well at home and abroad. Today on Morning Joe, Pelosi reiterated her staunch, unequivocal support for the Biden-Harris team,” Bennett wrote to The Hill. 

Bennett pointed to Pelosi’s comments in Thursday’s interview, when she said, “The Biden-Harris team is our team.  We’re very proud of it.  And we’re all going to work very hard to make sure that they are re-elected.”

Updated at 4:24 p.m.