Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday claimed the party's presidential nomination process was “open” after President Biden withdrew and that Vice President Kamala Harris “won” the nomination despite there being no such contest.
Before Biden withdrew from the Democratic nomination in mid-July, Pelosi reportedly said she would support a competitive, open primary process to replace Biden, if necessary. On Wednesday, Semaphore's Kadia Goba asked Pelosi if the “excitement” generated by Harris' nomination to replace Biden had changed her mind.
“No, I haven't changed my mind. The primary was open, and[Kamala Harris]won. Nobody else ran,” Pelosi said. “Obviously, there were people who would have run, there were people who were preparing, but Harris ran all at once, which was actually a blessing and a time saver because there wasn't that much time until the election.”
“But it's not like there wasn't an open primary,” Pelosi added. “It's just that she got off to a strong start and no one else could win.”
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Amid pressure from within his party, Biden withdrew from the presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Harris as his successor the same day. Harris was the informal candidate from that point on until the Democratic National Committee decided to hold an unprecedented virtual roll call ahead of the national nominating convention in August. This first-ever roll call vote was won by Harris with the support of 99% of the party's delegates who participated. Harris was the only candidate to qualify for the virtual roll call vote, despite having three challengers who wanted to run against her. Her losing challenger reportedly failed to gather the 300 delegate signatures needed to access the virtual ballot, according to Politico.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds up a sign that reads “Coach Waltz” at the Democratic National Convention.
Conservatives following the election called Pelosi's comments about Harris' nomination process a “joke” and a “lie.”
“The votes of 14 million Americans who voted for Joe Biden have been wasted with Harris becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. She never received a single vote for this office,” said Ryan Walker, executive director of Heritage Action for America, a conservative political advocacy group and subsidiary of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. “The idea that Harris won an open primary is a travesty.”
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“Hearing Nancy Pelosi's comments about Joe Biden, it's easy to forget that she was one of many who lied to us about his condition until the moment it was no longer in her political interest to do so,” added Jenny Beth Martin, president of the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. “I wouldn't be at all surprised if she's now lying about the 'open nomination' process that led to Kamala's elevation.”
Meanwhile, a university elections expert told Fox News Digital that nothing illegal or undemocratic is happening because how they nominate candidates is ultimately up to each party's discretion.
“Maybe he could sue the party in civil tort and say, 'They did something wrong to me,' but it wouldn't violate election law,” said Jeremy Meyer, a professor at George Mason University's Schar School of Public Policy and Government. “This is not the coup that some are making it out to be.”
Leonard Steinhorn, a professor at American University who specializes in political communications, questioned what other options the party had with less than four months to go until the election.
“Political parties need to ask themselves what else can they do?” he asked.
A voter marks his or her ballot at a polling place during voting in the Massachusetts primary election on Tuesday.
Meyer and Steinhorn also argued that Republicans would likely have done the same to Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, if the Republican candidate had faced some obstacle preventing him from running.
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“In an ideal situation, you can always debate what's best and what it should be, but as the old 1980s expression goes, 'the reality is,' you have to be able to adjust and adapt to the circumstances,” Steinhorn said. “In an ideal world, you might want more public vetting of the candidates, whether that be open primaries that might not be possible in a critical mass of states, or forums where people can evaluate different candidates. But at that point, VP Harris got Joe Biden's endorsement and moved quickly to solidify her support and win a majority of delegates. So why would anyone else run?”
Meyer and Steinhorn also noted that while the process goes against modern norms, it's not entirely unprecedented.
“Harris is a man who, from 1832 to 1968, selected candidates by party convention, and we've had some pretty good presidents, but today we expect a president to be chosen by an open primary by party members. That wasn't the case with Harris,” Meyer said. Steinhorn, meanwhile, cited former President Gerald Ford as an example, saying, “Ford never faced a primary or a national popular vote.”
A new poll ahead of Tuesday's ABC News presidential debate shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump by 8 percentage points among Virginia voters. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Last week, Pelosi also answered questions about the fairness of the Democratic nomination process on ABC's “The View.”
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“It was an open process,” Pelosi insisted. “Anyone could have come in. She could have come in and she won. And the president of the United States, who is highly respected, endorsed her. So that was huge, but what people don't understand is that other people could have come in. She shut it down. As I've told you before, it was politically astute.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Pelosi's office for comment but did not receive a response.
