Pelosi Shows Support for Bernie Sanders as Democrat Presidential Nominee
Democratic House speaker says 'yes,' should would support Sanders on the ticket
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Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has signaled that she would support candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as the Democrats' presidential nominee.
Speaker Pelosi said she would be comfortable if socialist Sanders were to become the nominee as polling shows a surge of support for the independent Vermont senator.
Pelosi was asked by a reporter if she would be comfortable with Sanders as the Democrats' nomination as she left a meeting on Capitol Hill Wednesday, The Hill reported.
“Yes,” she replied.
As a follow-up to her one-word answer, Pelosi was asked if she was worried Democrats could lose their majority in the House with Bernie on the ticket.
She simply replied: "No."
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Bernie Sanders has recently come under fire for praising the high literacy rates in Cuba under the leadership of dictator Fidel Castro.
“We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but, you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad,” Sen. Sanders told Anderson Cooper during an interview for “60 Minutes.”
“You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did?
"He had a massive literacy program.
"Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
Pelosi joins Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) who also suggested he would be comfortable with a Sanders nomination on Tuesday, according to The Daily Caller.
“Look, the bottom line is very simple. We have a lot of strong nominees,” Schumer said when asked about Sanders’ support for Castro’s literacy programs, The Hill Reports.
"I’m not supporting one over the other, but I think every one of them will beat President Trump."
Sanders currently leads the presidential field with an average support of 29.2%, according to RealClearPolitics.
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The conventional wisdom in Washington seems to be that Democrats will lose seats in the House if Sanders is at the top of the ticket, according to IJR.
Some vulnerable lawmakers have even voiced their disapproval.
Congressman Joe Cunningham (D-SC) recently told his local paper that “South Carolinians don’t want socialism.
"We want to know how you are going to get things done and how you are going to pay for them.
"Bernie’s proposals to raise taxes on almost everyone is not something the Lowcountry wants and not something I’d ever support.”
Q: Will you be OK if @BernieSanders is the nominee?@SpeakerPelosi: Yes.
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) February 26, 2020
Q: Do you have any concerns that you could lose the majority?@SpeakerPelosi: No. pic.twitter.com/Ag740ZlvJS
There will be a better idea about the state of the race after March 3, when 15 states — nearly one-third of Democratic voters — will cast their vote for the presidency.
If Sanders pulls off a huge victory on Super Tuesday, it could make it much more difficult for his opponents.
