(Inside California Politics) — House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who has been in Congress for more than three decades, sat down for her first extended interview with Inside California Politics.
In her remarks, she talked about the U.S. Senate race in California, whether or not a politician’s age matters and why she is seeking another term in the Congressional chamber she has led twice before.
This interview has been edited lightly for clarity.
Nikki Laurenzo: House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, welcome to Inside California Politics. We appreciate you being on the show, your first appearance on the show, and I want to start talking about the Senate race because you have endorsed Adam Schiff… So voting is happening right now, ballots have been delivered to people’s mailboxes, if some voters are undecided, what would you say to them?
Rep. Nancy Pelosi: Thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you today. The Senate race is very important. I endorsed Adam Schiff probably a year ago when Dianne Feinstein said that she would not be seeking reelection. I said if she did not, then I would be supporting Adam Schiff.
Why? Well, for the past 20 years I had been Speaker or leader, and for 20 years the top Democrat in the House, looking out for California appropriations, authorization, formulas, waivers and all the rest. A big state, a great state of ideas and size, 40 million people… and I wanted the strongest possible person to be in that job, and to me, that person is Adam Schiff.
Very respectful of the other candidates, the Democrats who are in the race, no offense to them, but I wanted the strongest possible person.
We are a big state. Some states have fewer constituents than I have in my Congressional District, and they have two senators. We have 40 million people. We have two senators. And so we need heft, knowledge, we need legislative skill, we need experience, and Adam Schiff commands great respect. Everything I’ve always seen him do he has done with great effectiveness in Congress.
I’m very proud to support him and I think his campaign is going very well, but it’s about you, it’s about our issues and our constituents, about their issues, their kitchen table issues and the rest that are so important and the greatness of California that has to be met with that leadership.
Laurenzo: The next question I want to ask you is about representation, and before I ask it, I just want to point out the fact that our polling shows this week that Adam Schiff gets high marks among women voters. A piece in the LA Times that came out this week points to that fact too. But throughout my reporting over the past couple of months when Senator Feinstein announced that she wasn’t going to run again and one question I got was, ‘Wow, this is going to be the first time in decades a woman is not going to have a seat at the table, possibly, if polls are right and the trends that we’re seeing come to fruition and Adam Schiff is our next senator, that a woman’s not going to have a seat at the table and are we going backward in a sense?’ What do you say to that?
Pelosi: I don’t think we’re going backward. And I say with great immodesty myself that as a leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives. When I went to Congress, there were 12 Democrats who were women in the Congress, now there are 94. No one among us doesn’t understand the importance of women at the table.
Nothing is more wholesome and we’ve been very blessed for a long time, for 30 years, to have two women and then one woman, our vice president, now Senator Butler there as well. But I’m talking now about the strongest possible person in the job and that is Adam Schiff.
Again, we have a great delegation of women from California. Some states don’t even have a woman, much less many women… And they have made a tremendous difference. I could name them and their difference if you wish.
Laurenzo: Well, we have limited time, so maybe we will circle back to that, but I want to ask you about obviously another big race that is going to be on the ballot this election cycle and that is the race for president.
…Voters who might be questioning the president’s age, what do you say to them?
Pelosi: Well, it’s interesting to me that the press is so taken up with the president’s age and says so little about the Republican who’s just a couple of years younger than the president. Why is that? I just don’t get that…
To answer your question directly, anyone who doesn’t understand the sharpness of Joe Biden, his grand vision for our country, his sharp knowledge and understanding of the challenges and the issues that we face. He doesn’t even think of many of them as issues but as values to promote in this grand vision.
This legislative skill that he has, strategic thinking to get the job done. That’s why he was able to have in the two years that we were in the majority, and he was in the White House, the greatest legislative record since Lyndon Johnson. But that’s all in the head. The vision, the knowledge, the judgment, the strategic thinking was also and is what is in his heart.
His empathy for the people, that he cares about them. So, every legislative initiative he takes, he wants to know, ‘what does this mean at the kitchen table for American people?’
And he has written some of this legislation. He has campaigned on this legislation. He is committed to it. So as I say to your peril, you misjudge how sharp he is, and the rest.
I’ve worked with him for years, for decades, and I know his knowledge as a senator for so many years, as the vice president of the United States, as President of the United States. Really, God has blessed America at this time, when we have global challenges, where we have our democracy and our own country on the ballot, because some of the things that that other person is putting out there and saying.
My whole thing about how I judge somebody is taken from the national anthem: “Proof through the night that our flag is still there… with liberty and justice for all.” That’s what Joe Biden is about. That’s what our country is facing.
On the other side of the aisle, sadly, I wish people would take the Republican Party back. It has turned into a cult to a, in my view, a thug.
But nonetheless, (Biden has) done great things for our country, worked with Republican presidents over the years who were patriotic. We had differences of opinion, but no difference of support for our country. So, Joe Biden, you just win, baby… he’s going to win.
Laurenzo: ‘Just win, baby,’ the great Al Davis quote there for you being in the Bay Area…but we can’t end this conversation without talking about you running for reelection, and of course, you know you have accomplished a lot during your decades in the (House).
Obviously, first woman elected Speaker, first individual to be reelected Speaker since Sam Rayburn but, obviously, you know you pass the torch to the next generation and you talked a lot about that, but do you have some unfinished business that you would like to see get across the finish line? Is there specific legislation?
Pelosi: Well, I as Speaker, had awesome power. It’s probably the most challenging job in government having the same challenges, issues-wise, as the president without the staff and the bully pulpit. So, California has had a strong woman in the lead with our other members being part of that strength.
I, we do have some work to be done, finish the job. We didn’t finish all we wanted to do in terms of home healthcare and of family and medical leave, part of our “Build Back Better,” that we couldn’t get completely accomplished in the first two years and that the Republicans just would not allow us to go forward with in the next two.
But also, I wanted to run again. I had awesome power and now have lost some influence and I can make a difference in some of these things…says she, modestly, but you asked.
As they say, self-promotion is a terrible thing, but somebody’s got to do it.
Saving our democracy, the oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution. Our flag is still there with liberty and justice for all, so important.
I think that’s very much at risk with the person that they’re considering nominating on the other side of the aisle. I wish it weren’t so. I think they had plenty of good candidates. He is not among them.
So, that was part of my motivation, to be able to help win the election, elect Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker. He will be Speaker of the House before you know it. I was hoping this year… we just won in New York. The number is going down.
But again, before another year goes by, we will have Hakeem and Pete Aguilar from our state, Ted Lieu from our state, Katherine Clark from Massachusetts, as well as Hakeem in the leadership for our country… Maxine Waters, as Chairs of Committee, Mark Takano, Chair of Veterans Affairs…
California has tremendous leadership in Congress. We want it to be in the majority. That’s why I’m there. Just win, baby.
Laurenzo: House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, we appreciate you joining us here on Inside California Politics.
Pelosi: Thank you.
