Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that Democrats could have fared better in Tuesday's elections if President Joe Biden had dropped out of the race earlier.
Speaking to The New York Times, Pelosi said, “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” reflecting her belief that Biden's late departure hurt the party’s chances.
Pelosi’s comments come after the Democrats lost the White House and potentially both chambers of Congress in what has been a bruising blow to the party. Pelosi, who was re-elected to her 20th term in the House, had been one of the figures reportedly leading the push for Biden to exit the race. The president finally stepped down at the end of July, following mounting pressure after a lackluster debate performance against Donald Trump.
Pelosi explained, “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.” An open primary would have allowed multiple Democratic candidates to compete for the nomination. Pelosi believes this could have benefited Vice President Kamala Harris, who was quickly endorsed by Biden but ultimately lost to Trump. "She would have done well in such a primary process and it would have made her ‘stronger going forward,’” Pelosi added. But she also acknowledged, “But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened.”
Pelosi went on to explain that Biden’s early endorsement of Harris made it “almost impossible to have a primary at that time,” adding, “If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.”
Meanwhile, aides to Harris have also blamed Biden for the loss. One unnamed aide told Politico, “We ran the best campaign we could, considering Joe Biden was president.” They added that “Joe Biden is the singular reason Kamala Harris and Democrats lost tonight.” However, a former Biden aide fired back, accusing Harris of making excuses for her defeat. “How did you spend $1 billion and not win?” the former aide said, adding an expletive in frustration.
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, also weighed in, blaming those who pushed for Biden to leave the race. “For those that decided and moved to break Biden, and then you got the election that you wanted, it’s appropriate to own the outcome and fallout,” Fetterman told Semafor.
Other Democratic leaders have also expressed their concerns about the party’s strategy. Congressman Tom Suozzi from New York criticized the party’s emphasis on “being politically correct,” pointing to the Republican attacks on issues like “anarchy on college campuses” and “defund the police.” Representative Ritchie Torres also blamed “the far left” for alienating key voter groups, including Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews. He argued that radical positions, like “Defund the Police” and “From the River to the Sea,” hurt the party’s image.
Meanwhile, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, in a statement, accused Democratic leadership of abandoning working-class Americans. “The American people are angry and want change,” Sanders wrote. “And they’re right.” He argued that the party is unlikely to learn from the election outcome.
The Democratic National Committee quickly responded to Sanders’ critique. Chairman Jaime Harrison dismissed Sanders' comments as “straight up BS,” rejecting the notion that the party had failed to address the concerns of voters.
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