Nancy Pelosi's efforts to install Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee deserves blame for the vice president's loss against Donald Trump, according to former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
Harris became the Democratic candidate in August following the withdrawal of President Joe Biden on July 21. She secured the 1,976 party delegates needed to clinch the nomination without having to compete in a primary election as is conventional for a presidential nominee.
McCarthy has touted this, and the belief that Biden was pushed out by his own party, as a reason for Harris' loss.
"You've got to blame Nancy Pelosi," the Republican told Fox News on Wednesday morning. "Remember the celebration when she went around democracy and said, 'I don't care if people picked you, I'm going to pick someone else'?"
Newsweek has reached out to Pelosi for a response to McCarthy's statements and to McCarthy for additional comment.
Pelosi, who herself served as House Speaker from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023, has been widely viewed as the primary force behind Biden quitting the presidential race following the incumbent's poor performance in the June 27 presidential debate.
While she never publicly called for his exit, Pelosi made several comments expressing her dissatisfaction with the president's campaign and several reports have emerged that she worked behind the scenes to bring about his withdrawal.
During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe prior to Biden's exit, Pelosi declined to answer whether the president had her support in his reelection bid, telling host Jonathan Lemire, "It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short."
"I have to do what I have to do," Pelosi told CNN's Jake Tapper in August. "He made the decision for the country. My concern was not about the president; it was about his campaign."
McCarthy said he agreed that Biden was unfit to run for reelection, telling Fox News, "Joe Biden never should have ran for office. I knew it when I sat with him. There was something wrong with him."
However, he criticized the Democrats' efforts as undemocratic, stating that the party should have held a primary election before nominating Harris.
McCarthy also laid blame at the feet of Harris herself, saying: "The very first decision that Kamala Harris made was the wrong decision. She picked Tim Walz instead of picking Josh Shapiro."
Newsweek reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment.
Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro was briefly touted as a potential running mate for Harris before the vice president announced in August that she had instead opted for the Minnesota governor.
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