According to a Politico report, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was a critical voice behind the selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate.
From Politico:
So some House Democrats privately lobbied Harris’ camp to pick Walz, wanting to see someone on the ticket who truly understood the so-called lower chamber. While other candidates like Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also had some House Democratic backers, many of them saw Walz, who served 12 years in the House and counts strong allies among both centrists and progressives, as a potentially perfect fit.
“I used to tease [Biden] a lot. I said: ‘Man, you know you’re too senatorial in your speech-making. You gotta learn to do like we do in the House,” Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a top Biden ally, said in a brief interview. “We do one-minute speeches in the House. So we know how to get to the point right away.’”
“If you noticed, Walz is very good at getting to the point right away,” Clyburn quipped.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was perhaps the most high-profile official in a behind-the-scenes House Democratic campaign to encourage Harris to pick Walz as her running mate, but the effort spanned the caucus’ ideological spectrum. He got help from Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), who leads the New Democrat Coalition, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who leads the Progressive Caucus, plus dozens in between.
“The point is that the Vice President Harris, by selecting Tim Walz, doesn’t have to have a lot of these relationships in the House created because he already has them,” said Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), who served with Walz.
Pelosi is reported to have had a strong influence over Biden’s ouster and replacement. But in a Monday interview on Good Morning America, Pelosi denied claims that she “was burning up the airways” to push Biden out — but also admitted she spoke to Joe after “people called me.”
“It was always about him,” the former House speaker claimed. “And why I said I didn’t make calls, because people said I was burning up the airways. No, I wasn’t.”
