Pelosi on whether Harris is best running mate for Biden: ‘He thinks so’

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said “he thinks so,” when asked whether she thought Vice President Kamala Harris was the best running mate for President Biden in 2024.

In an interview on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Pelosi praised the vice president as “politically astute,” but deflected when pressed on whether she was the best running mate for Biden.

“He thinks so, and that’s what matters,” she said when first asked.

“And, by the way,” Pelosi continued, not stopping when Cooper asked whether she also thought so, “She’s very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit.”

“She’s, of course, values-based, consistent with the president’s values and the rest,” she added.

Pelosi praised her fellow California Democrat’s ability to make her case to voters about why she is the right candidate for a given position, saying, “People shouldn’t underestimate what Kamala Harris brings to the table.”

“People don’t understand. She’s politically astute. Why would she be vice president if she were not?” she continued. “But when she was running for attorney general in California, she had 6 percent in the polls – 6 percent in the polls. And she politically astutely made her case about why she would be good, did her politics, and became attorney general.”

The former House speaker also noted that the job of vice president is often a thankless job that is intended to support the country, and Pelosi said Harris has done that job well.

“She’s the vice president of the United States,” Pelosi said when asked again whether Harris is the best running mate for Biden. “People say to me, ‘Well, why isn’t she doing this or that?’ I say, ‘Because she’s the vice president.’ That’s the job description. You don’t do that much. You know, you, you’re a source of strength, inspiration, intellectual resource.”

“I think she’s represented our country very well at home and abroad,” she added.

Pelosi’s comments come just under a week since she announced her reelection bid.

“I think nothing less is at stake than our democracy in this election,” Pelosi said in the interview with CNN. “You hear that in the country. You hear that globally. And we have to remove all doubt that our democracy is strong.”