Our most recent book is Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Less than 48 hours after Biden's withdrawal, Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee.
It was Pelosi who stepped up to say what many Democrats were thinking but afraid to articulate publicly after Biden’s disastrous June 27 presidential debate, even as he and his tightknit circle of protectors sought to circle the wagons. “It’s a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?” she said in a July 2 television appearance.
A week later—after Biden sent a letter to congressional Democrats insisting he was “firmly committed to staying in this race,” even as his standing in polls was entering a steep slide—Pelosi’s language grew more urgent. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” she said on MSNBC. The subtlety of the comment, which strongly implied the “decision” she would prefer without coming out and calling for Biden to step down, was classic Pelosi. As a steady trickle of lawmakers began publicly endorsing a Biden withdrawal, many viewed Pelosi’s remarks as encouragement to keep up the pressure.
Pelosi was introduced by actor Mindy Kaling at the convention in Chicago as the “mother of dragons.” In her speech, she thanked Biden and talked about their mutual successes.
She has taken pains to play down her role as an orchestrator of the pressure campaign, insisting that she didn’t make any calls herself. Instead, she says she simply made herself available to those who had concerns and encouraged them to make their views known to the White House. Nonetheless, a top House Democratic staffer said she was viewed as “leading the charge on getting Biden to reconsider,” openly expressing concerns about his political viability to fellow House Democrats.
However subtly phrased, the message was clear, and it was one Pelosi was uniquely positioned to deliver. Congressional Democrats’ current leaders, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, were hamstrung by their need to represent their members’ diverse views on the Biden question. Another party eminence, former President Barack Obama, was the subject of a continuing Biden grudge for favoring Hillary Clinton’s candidacy over his own in 2016. Alone among senior Democrats, Pelosi is seen by Biden as a peer, and she could speak from experience about questions of age and surrendering power.
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Longtime Pelosi watchers say her unsentimental determination to cashier a beloved friend and ally was consistent with her trademark ruthlessness. Ex-Rep. Steve Israel, a former member of Pelosi’s congressional leadership team, said she would sometimes refer to “two-ventricle strategies,” meaning coldblooded—an apparent misstatement of the reptilian anatomy. “Meaning sometimes you have to put emotion aside and warm and fuzzy feelings aside and do what you must to win—not for the sake of winning, she would always say, but for the sake of advancing the agenda,” Israel said.
Pelosi didn’t spare herself from this emotional detachment, either, never taking personally the negative remarks candidates in tough races would often make about her.
