Pelosi is a long-standing ally of Biden, but their relationship took a turn for the worse earlier this year when his bid for reelection began to waver. In the wake of Harris’s crushing loss, the California Democrat had some harsh words for Biden on Friday, and took a shot at Harris in the process, arguing that if he had ended his presidential campaign and “gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race.” 

“The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” Pelosi said during an interview with the New York Times. “Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen.”

She argued that if Biden had ended his bid for reelection sooner, an open primary would have ensued, allowing Harris or another Democratic candidate more time to campaign, build trust with voters, and defeat Trump.

When Biden, who has repeatedly exhibited visible signs of aging and mental decline over the past few years, announced in April 2023 his intention to run for a second term, most elders in the Democratic Party quickly hopped on board. 

Although he made gaffes over the course of his campaign, it wasn’t until Biden’s disastrous performance during his debate with Trump in June that many Democrats began to weigh in publicly on his cognitive decline and pressure him to drop out of the race. 

However, Biden didn’t end his presidential campaign until late July, with Pelosi being widely rumored to be one of the Democratic chiefs pushing him to do so behind the scenes. When Biden did concede his dreams of a second term were over, he quickly endorsed Harris, his No. 2, to take his place at the top of the ticket. 

“Because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time,” Pelosi said. “If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.”

Although Pelosi placed the blame on Biden for the resounding blow her party received on Tuesday, other Democratic affiliates have suggested Trump led a red wave because the Left is out of touch with voters. 

“I know today Democrats are going to be looking for someone to blame. Let me be the first to tell you it’s not just one thing,” Charlamagne tha God, who endorsed Harris, said Wednesday on The Breakfast Club. “I personally feel like Donald Trump speaks to people’s grievances better than Democrats do.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who caucuses with Democrats and nearly won the party’s nomination for president twice, echoed similar concerns following the election. 

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he said in a post to X. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.”

It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.

While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.

And they’re right. pic.twitter.com/lM2gSJmQFL

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 6, 2024

But Pelosi rebutted concerns the Democratic Party might be to blame for losing to Trump during the interview. 

“With all due respect, and I have a great deal of respect for him, for what he stands for, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working-class families,” she said.