Pelosi blames Biden for Kamala Harris' crushing defeat: 'He should have dropped out sooner, it would have been different'

Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the House of Representatives, criticized Joe Biden in an interview for waiting too long to withdraw from the election race, which prevented other potential candidates from having a chance to compete in the Democratic primary.

During her participation in the podcast "The Interview" with Lulu García-Navarro, Nancy Pelosi commented: "[If] the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race." She also asserted that many party members wanted an open primary if Biden decided not to continue.

In the interview, Pelosi commented that Kamala Harris would have performed well in the primaries and could have strengthened her candidacy for the future, although she admitted that this will never be known. The Democrat also noted that Biden's immediate endorsement of Harris left little room for a real primary contest. According to Pelosi, had Biden made the decision to withdraw earlier, a more open and competitive race would have been possible.

"Because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different," she said.

Change in Pelosi's stance

Nancy Pelosi appears to have changed her position on the Democratic nomination process. In previous comments, she argued that the process was open and that any candidate had the opportunity to run. In an August interview with The Wall Street Journal, Pelosi stated, "It was an open process, anyone could have gotten in. [Harris] had the endorsement of the president, and she, politically astutely, took advantage of it and shut down — not shut down, but won the nomination."

In subsequent interviews, such as her appearance on "The View" in September, Pelosi defended the speed with which Harris won the nomination, noting that this helped save time on the road to the election. "I didn't change my mind. We had an open primary and [Kamala Harris] won it. Nobody else got in the race," Pelosi said. Pressed again on the issue, the former leader insisted that the president's endorsement of Harris did not block other candidates, but simply consolidated her position quickly.

A lightning nomination

On July 21, Biden announced his withdrawal and, just an hour later, expressed his endorsement of Kamala Harris. In less than 36 hours, Harris secured the nomination after receiving the support of a majority of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) delegates. According to Pelosi, this rapid succession of events limited opportunities for other candidates to consider joining the race. The full release of Pelosi's podcast this Saturday is expected to continue to generate debate within the Democratic Party about the lack of choice and diversity in the nominating process.