When asked if she intended to seek for her job again if Democrats retained control of the House on Sunday during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi ducked the question.
Pelosi’s remarks to host George Stephanopoulos after a better-than-expected showing by Democrats in the midterm elections, in which they defied historical tendencies to hold onto the Senate and still have a slim chance of holding onto the House as long as voting is still being counted.
“Right now I’m not making any comments until this election is finished, and we have a little more time to go,” she said of her future role in House leadership. “I wish it [the counting] was faster.”
According to ABC News’ predictions as of Sunday, Democrats will take home 206 House seats to the Republicans’ 211. No projections have been made for the 18 seats. To gain the majority, Democrats would need to win 12 seats.
Pelosi declared in 2018 that she would only serve as speaker for two terms, with her second term ending in January, in order to secure the votes required to win the position a second time. She hasn’t recently stated whether she’ll uphold that promise.
Looking forward to 2024, Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi, “Do you think President [Joe] Biden should run again?”
“Yes, I do. … He has accomplished so much: over 10 million jobs under his leadership, working with the private sector, of course. He has just done so many things that are so great,” she said, adding: “He put money in people’s pockets, vaccines in their arms, children back to school, people back to work.”
Given how previous midterm cycles had gone and voters’ negative attitudes of the Biden White House and inflation, race experts at FiveThirtyEight and other places predicted Democrats may be running into a “red wave” that would yield a wide majority for Republicans before to election day.
Instead, Democrats supported incumbents in close contests and took over Republican-held seats in the House and Senate. However, the GOP still has a slim chance of winning a majority in the upcoming Congress.
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Pelosi claimed on “This Week” that Democrats’ outperformed themselves by defying expectations and campaigning on a platform that prioritised lowering prices while defending access to abortion and democracy.
“We never accepted when the pundits in Washington said we couldn’t win because of history, history, history. Elections are about the future,” she said.
“I’m really pleased with our candidates. They were courageous, had a goal, and were knowledgeable about their community “She went on.
Even yet, Pelosi expressed her “disappointment” with the outcome of the New York election, when Republicans took four House seats from Democrats after an aggressive Democratic gerrymander was overturned in court. In order for the GOP to recapture the lower chamber of Congress, their victories in New York are now crucial. In light of his slim majority, Stephanopoulos questioned Pelosi on how she saw Republican leader Kevin McCarthy leading his caucus as speaker.
Democrats presently hold a similar advantage, according to Pelosi, and have been successful in passing legislation.
“It depends on their purpose. In our House, we had those kinds of numbers. But we were united,” she said.
She stated that raising the nation’s debt ceiling during the lame-duck session of Congress would be “extremely crucial” to avoid financial conflicts similar to those that occurred under President Barack Obama when Republican lawmakers pushed to reduce federal spending in order to raise the limit.
“Madam Speaker, if you do decide to step away from Congress, how do you want your speakerships to be remembered?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, I don’t have any plans to step away from Congress. You asked me about running for leadership,” Pelosi said.
She cited the passing of the Affordable Care Act as her legacy: “My greatest achievement has to be the expansion of health care for all Americans when we had the chance to do so. I’m quite proud of that.”
Pelosi claimed Donald Trump’s candidacy would be “terrible news for the country” as he gets ready to make a comeback bid.
She stated, “This is a person who has damaged the integrity of our elections, has not upheld his oath of office, and has incited unusual kinds of people to run for office who do not share the principles of our democracy.” So he hasn’t been a positive influence.
