In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi avoided questions about whether Vice President Kamala Harris was “the best running mate” for President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign.
While Pelosi was complimentary of her fellow California Democrat, she did not answer two direct questions from anchor Anderson Cooper on the topic, and said as long as Biden thinks Harris is the best woman for the job “that’s what matters.”
“People shouldn’t underestimate what Kamala Harris brings to the table,” Pelosi said, later adding “I think she’s represented our country very well at home and abroad.”
When asked a second time, Pelosi said “she’s the vice president of the United States” and described the difficulties of the office that has limited power.
“People say to me, ‘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,” the longtime Democratic leader said.
When asked if Biden was the best candidate for her party, Pelosi said “I think so, yes” before praising his “great experience and wisdom.”
“Last night, Speaker Emerita Pelosi, as always, heaped praise on the Vice President — saying that she is values-based, politically astute and represents our country very well at home and abroad," Pelosi spokesperson Aaron Bennett said in a statement. "Today on Morning Joe, Pelosi reiterated her staunch, unequivocal support for the Biden-Harris team."
Representatives for the Biden-Harris campaign did not immediately return requests for comment.
The questions from Cooper came within the context of a growing discussion that Biden and Harris should drop out of the race and clear the way for other Democrats to vie for the nomination over concerns about the president’s age and the pair’s low poll numbers.
One recent column by longtime Washington Post fixture David Ignatius, who Axios reported is a favored read of Biden’s, argued that because of the president's age — he would be 86 at the end of a second term — voters will pay more attention to Harris. Like Pelosi, Ignatius had praise for both Biden and Harris, but cited the vice president’s average approval rating according to the polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight: 39.5%, compared to 52.7% who disapprove, as of Sunday.
Ignatius pitched newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass or Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo as possible replacements.
Biden, whose numbers have plateaued since the end of his first year in office, polls just ahead of Harris at around 41% approval. But 54.4% disapprove of his job performance and recent polling suggests that two-thirds Democratic-leaning voters would prefer another candidate and 77% of all Americans think Biden is too old to serve another term effectively.
Pelosi, who announced this week she plans to run for another term next year at age 84, dismissed concerns about Biden’s age in a separate interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday. She said “age is a relative thing” and cited 101-year-old TV legend Norman Lear and 95-year-old architect Frank Gehry, who she said she recently visited with and noted they were “still actively involved in their professions.”
“His experience is an advantage to us and not to be described as a disadvantage, but again, it's all a relative thing. If your health is not good, and the rest, then there may be a factor to be considered there,” Pelosi said “I'm excited about his candidacy for the Biden-Harris team as a team. We're very proud of it and we're all going to work very hard to make sure that they are reelected.”
Pelosi’s campaign account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, posted clips from both interviews boosting “the Biden-Harris” team and pledging her full efforts to get them elected.
And on Wednesday, her successor as House Democratic leader, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, offered his full endorsement of Harris.
“She absolutely is the right running mate for President Biden and she’s done a phenomenal job as vice president,” Jeffries said, citing her work on abortion issues, the economy and “truth and reconciliation” when it comes to African American history.
For her part, Harris said last week she was ready to be president “if necessary.” And Biden said last year he was sticking with her.
The age of politicians has been a subject of frequent discussion in Washington over the last year, particularly as 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has struggled with numerous health issues and 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has frozen in front of news cameras twice in two months.
The average age of U.S. Senators is over 65, the oldest ever, and eight were born before the end of World War II. Feinstein and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, were eight years old when the U.S. entered the war at the end of 1941. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was three months old.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, cited his own age of 76 when he announced his retirement on Wednesday and called for Biden and former President Donald Trump, the 77-year-old Republican primary frontrunner, to step aside for a “new generation of leaders.”
“I think it’s time for guys like me to get out of the way,” Romney told reporters. “I think some of the people that are coming along next want to have a say in how we leave the Earth and how they prepare for the future we’re going to live in.”