Pelosi Influential in Biden’s 2024 Race Withdrawal

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reported to have played a crucial role in persuading Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

According to NBC, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was instrumental in pressuring President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race. Sources told NBC that Pelosi warned Biden about the potential consequences of continuing his campaign. After weeks of speculation and increasing pressure from within his own party, Biden announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the November election.

Sources told NBC that Pelosi played a key role in “delicately nudging” Biden to withdraw. While Pelosi did not publicly call for Biden to quit, she “worked quietly and methodically” behind the scenes, according to sources. Pelosi reportedly spoke to a large number of rank-and-file lawmakers and urged them to “speak their conscience” regarding Biden’s candidacy.

Three sources told NBC that whenever the issue of Biden dropping out of the race started to lose momentum, Pelosi was the one “fanning the flames” to reignite it.

“I think Pelosi continues to show she’s a master political tactician,” one House Democratic leadership aide was quoted as saying.

On Friday, more than a dozen congressional Democrats joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling on Biden to step aside as the party’s nominee, citing concerns about his mental and physical state.

“That groundswell on Friday of members calling for him (Biden) to step down was all Nancy’s doing,” another Democrat who spoke with Pelosi last week told NBC. 

Asked how responsible Pelosi was for Biden’s decision to quit, one Democratic lawmaker said “50%.

One Democratic source said former speaker Pelosi was considered “politically still our leader” and predicted that “she and she alone can ensure Kamala’s success.”

According to the report, on Saturday – the day before Biden’s withdrawal announcement – Pelosi warned him in a private phone call that if he stayed in the race, he could lose so badly to Republican Donald Trump that it could cost them control of both the House and the Senate.

According to CNN, Pelosi and Harris spoke on Sunday after Joe Biden quit the race. Pelosi endorsed Harris on Monday, calling her “brilliantly astute” and saying she has “full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November.”