Former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi insisted Wednesday that her party’s presidential nomination process was “open” after President Biden dropped out, and that Vice President Kamala Harris “won it” despite there being no such contest.
prior to Biden leaving office As the Democratic Party’s nominee in mid-July, Pelosi reportedly said she was in favor of a competitive open primary process to replace her if necessary. On Wednesday, Semaphore’s Kadia Goba asked Pelosi if she had changed her mind after seeing all the “excitement” Harris has generated to replace Biden.
“No, I didn’t change my mind. We had an open primary and (Kamala Harris) won it. Nobody else got into the race,” Pelosi said. “Yes people could have jumped into it – there were some people who were preparing, but she just kicked it off, and that was actually a blessing because there wasn’t that much time between then and the election and it saved time.”
“But it wasn’t that we didn’t have an open primary,” Pelosi said. “It’s just that nobody got to be a candidate because she was already in the race.”
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Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 amid pressure from within the party and declared Harris as his successor that same day. Harris was the unofficial candidate from that point on until the Democratic National Committee decided to implement an unprecedented virtual roll call ahead of its national nominating convention in August. The first-of-its-kind roll call vote ended with Harris receiving 99% support from the party’s participating delegates. Harris was the only candidate who qualified for election. virtual roll call votes, Three challengers sought to run against him, but the unsuccessful challengers were reportedly unable to gather the signatures of the 300 delegates needed to gain access to the virtual ballot. According to Politico.
Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi holds a sign that reads “Coach Walz” during the Democratic National Convention.
Conservatives focused on the election called Pelosi’s comments about Harris’ nomination process a “joke” and a “lie.”
“The votes of 14 million Americans who voted for Joe Biden were wasted because Harris was installed as the Democrats’ nominee for president — a position for which she never received a single vote,” said Ryan Walker, executive director of Heritage Action for America, a conservative political advocacy organization affiliated with the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. “To say she won an open primary is a joke.”
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“listening to Nancy Pelosi “After her comments about Joe Biden, you can almost forget that she was one of many who lied to us about Biden’s position, right up until the point when it was no longer in her political interest to do so,” said Jenny Beth Martin, president of the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. “I’m not at all surprised that she’s now trying to lie about the ‘open enrollment’ process that led to Kamala’s rise.”
Meanwhile, academic election experts told Fox News Digital that nothing illegal or undemocratic happened, as ultimately it is each party’s prerogative to decide how it nominates its candidate.
“You could probably sue the party for a civil tort and say, ‘They did something wrong to me.’ But that would not be a violation of election law,” said Jeremy Meyer, a professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Public Policy and Government. “It’s not a coup, as some would say.”
Leonard Steinhorn, a professor at American University and political communications expert, questioned what other options the party has with less than four months until the election.
“We have to ask ourselves: what else will the party do?” he asked.
Voters fill out their ballots at a polling station during the Massachusetts state primary on Tuesday.
Meyer and Steinhorn also argued that republican party If the Republican nominee faced an obstacle preventing him from running, he would likely do something similar to Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
“You can always talk about what’s best and what should happen under ideal circumstances. But you know, as an old saying from the 1980s goes, ‘reality bites,’ and you have to be able to adjust and adapt to your circumstances,” Steinhorn said. “In an ideal world, you want candidates to be more scrutinized by the public, whether that’s open primaries — which may be impossible to set up in states with any critical mass — or forums that allow people to evaluate different candidates. But at that point, Vice President Harris moved quickly with her endorsement of Joe Biden, solidifying his support and gaining a majority of delegates. Under such circumstances, why would anyone else run?”
Meyer and Steinhorn also point out that although this procedure went against contemporary norms, it was not entirely unprecedented.
“She was chosen the same way we chose our candidates from 1832 to 1968 — by convention — and that produced some very good presidents, but we expect today that the president is chosen by party people in an open primary process. And that did not happen with Harris,” Meyer said. Meanwhile, Steinhorn pointed to former President Gerald Ford, who “never once faced a primary or a national referendum.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s ABC News presidential debate, a new poll shows that Vice President Kamala Harris is leading former President Donald Trump by eight percentage points among likely voters in Virginia. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Last week, Pelosi also said that Answered questions on the fairness of the Democratic Party’s nominating process during an episode of ABC’s “The View.”
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“It was an open (process),” Pelosi insisted. “Anyone could have gotten involved. She got involved, and she won, and she was endorsed by a president of the United States who was very respected. So, it meant a lot, but people don’t understand that, other people could have gotten involved. She just shut it down. Politically shrewd, as I told you before.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Pelosi’s office for comment but did not receive a response.
