It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday it wouldn’t be all that bad if Democrats don’t have a competitive presidential primary.
“I have confidence that any person … will enliven the debate, and that will be wholesome if we have it,” Pelosi said. “If we don’t have it, we’ll just get moving with what we have.”
Pelosi didn’t specifically make mention of the former secretary of state, who is wrapped up in a controversy over undisclosed donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Pelosi, who is headed to New Hampshire this weekend, said she supported having additional Democratic candidates enter the race shortly after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced his candidacy Thursday morning.
“I think it’s healthy for a party to have an exchange of ideas, to have a bench,” Pelosi told reporters. “Especially when we are talking about leaders to come after. I don’t think anyone who is running for president should fear having someone else running for president.
Sanders, who is running on a far-left platform, is so far the only candidate to officially challenge Clinton, who leads most challengers in the polls by 60 points.
Pelosi also declined to specifically name Sanders, or any of the other potential Democratic candidates, when a reporter asked her about a Sanders candidacy.
“I have every confidence that any person that you have named and others who have named themselves or yet to come will enliven the debate, and that will be wholesome, if we have it,” Pelosi said.
