House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nominee, a break from her neutrality in the long, contested primary contests of 2008 and 2016.
The California Democrat’s move was unsurprising and came nearly three weeks after Biden’s remaining rival for the Democratic nomination for the right to challenge President Trump, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, quit the race.
Recommended Stories
Still, it’s a sign of unity in the Democratic coalition at a time when Biden, the former two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, has to win support from Sanders supporters on his left while holding on to moderate voters far less interested in a political revolution than in beating Trump in the fall.
“Elections are about the future. Now more than ever, we need a forward-looking, battle-tested leader who will fight for the people: a president with the values, experience, and the strategic thinking to bring our nation together and build a better, fairer world for our children,” Pelosi said in a video message Monday morning.
“For these and other reasons, I’m proud to endorse Joe Biden for president. A leader who is the personification of hope and courage, values, authenticity, and integrity,” Pelosi said.
.@JoeBiden has fought for our health care, for our families & for our children’s future.
To his work, Joe brings values & integrity. He is a voice of reason & resilience who will fight #ForThePeople. Today, I am proud to endorse him for President of the United States. -NP pic.twitter.com/Qdc9vTgWHP
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) April 27, 2020
Referencing his work as congressional Democrats’ main White House partner during the Obama administration, Pelosi touted their joint efforts pushing for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act following the Great Recession and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
“With a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, we will deliver bold progress for the people — when we have President Joe Biden in the White House,” she said.
The highest-elected Democrat in the country stayed neutral during the 2020 primary but alluded to her preference for Biden over his more liberal rivals given that she has to protect the party’s majority in the House this cycle.
“Quite frankly, with all the respect in the world for Iowa and New Hampshire, I’m not counting Joe Biden out,” she told CNN in February after Biden’s disappointing finishes in the first two contests.
Biden has largely ceded the national stage to Pelosi and her Democratic Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, as Congress responds to the public health and economic threats posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
While he didn’t overtly criticize them in an interview published Saturday, he did express disappointment with elements of the economic stimulus and relief packages they’ve negotiated since the COVID-19 virus outbreak, including their failure to secure more aid for states.
“They got what they could get,” Biden told Politico. “I’ve been in too many negotiations to second-guess anybody else’s.”
Pelosi, during her first turn as speaker, stayed neutral in the protracted 2008 Democratic nomination fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In 2016, as House minority leader, Pelosi also didn’t endorse Clinton, who prevailed that year after coming up short in 2008, until shortly before the Democratic convention.
Back in 2004, during Pelosi’s first stint as House minority leader, she backed then-Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, her longtime predecessor as Democratic leader in the chamber.
