On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) responded to a question on the DSA by saying that there is a big tent and “If people want to disassociate themselves from someone else, as they disassociated themselves from me, election after election after election, and, by the way, I was funding their disagreement with me, I just said, you just win, baby, you just win” and in another portion of the interview said that “we have to have a further proof to the public that the Democrats are there for working families if we’re having some candidates say that we’re not. But they have to say what they have to win. How many times did I have to say to candidates, say what you want about me, just win the election?”
Pelosi said, “Some Democrats will want to say, I don’t like what so and so — he’s too left for me, or he’s too right for me. It doesn’t matter. You run your own race in your own district. I have no criticism for what the Democrats have decided how they want to run their race, how they will conduct a campaign.”
Host Jake Tapper then asked, “Are you worried at all about some of the candidates that have been put forward because the Democratic Socialists of America have gotten involved in elections in an effective way in some places? In some districts that are blue districts, like in my home city of Philadelphia, that DSA candidate, he’ll be the next congressman, no doubt. But there are other districts that are battleground districts, and DSA candidates, there are a lot of Democrats wringing their hands, that they might cost them a seat or maybe even a Senate seat for some of the DSA — if not DSA candidates, DSA-aligned candidates. What do you think? Are you worried at all about that?”
Pelosi answered, “No, I’m not worried about that at all. I think that we have a big tent that is the Democratic Party. I have been involved in this for nearly 50 years…I was dealing with the left of the left in California, and that was a joy. We had our differences, but we had our common ground. And people consider me left-left from San Francisco, which I’m proud to embrace. But it isn’t a question of saying we’re a big tent, except just what I believe. If people want to disassociate themselves from someone else, as they disassociated themselves from me, election after election after election, and, by the way, I was funding their disagreement with me, I just said, you just win, baby, you just win — so, I wouldn’t go to that place, because the fact is, these members know their districts, representative. They know their districts. They know what they believe. They know why they are running. They know what they’re talking about. They have good judgment. They are strategic in their thinking. They’re showing that they care about the American people, and they are going to be wonderful new members of Congress.”
Earlier, she said, “I think our candidates are spectacular. They know why they’re running. They know their why. They know what they’re talking about. And they are — and we have to have a further proof to the public that the Democrats are there for working families if we’re having some candidates say that we’re not. But they have to say what they have to win. How many times did I have to say to candidates, say what you want about me, just win the election? Just win the election, because everything is at stake.”
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