Nancy Pelosi is a villain in Biden’s inner circle — and a hero to the rest of the Democratic Party

CHICAGO — In the morality play that yielded a new Democratic presidential nominee last month, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., could be seen as a heroine who risked a political backlash to save her party’s chances in November or a villain who bloodlessly, needlessly and rashly pushed aside its sitting president.

When she stepped to the lectern at the Democratic National Convention here Wednesday night — as a two-time speaker of the House who voluntarily gave up her own power last year after helping deliver the legislative agendas of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden — she was greeted as a favorite.

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In a brief address, Pelosi recounted for the audience that former President Donald Trump — the Republican nominee — tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election and that his supporters attacked the Capitol on the day Biden’s victory was certified in Congress.

“Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on Jan. 6: He did,” she said. “The parable of Jan. 6 reminds us that our democracy is only as strong as the courage and commitment of those entrusted with its care, and we must choose leaders who believe in free and fair elections, who respect the peaceful transfer of power.”

And, she added, “The choice couldn’t be clearer.”

To the extent that there is a certain uneasiness about this convention, which was supposed to renominate Biden for a second term, it is limited to a small circle of party power brokers whose relationships were fractured when Biden was dumped and replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s standard-bearer.

No one was more central to the first part of that push than Pelosi. When Biden insisted that he would stay in the race following a calamitous debate against former President Donald Trump in June, Pelosi said he still had a decision to make. Whenever he gained a tenuous foothold against a mudslide of Democratic doubts, new Pelosi allies called on him to abandon his campaign. She spoke to him privately to voice the concerns of fellow Democrats that he might not only lose the election but could also rob the party of its hopes of winning the House.

The real moral of the story for Democrats here is that their only priority is beating Trump, and most of them think Pelosi put them in a better position to do that. Biden was the beneficiary of that sentiment when he won the party’s nomination in 2020 and faced nominal opposition in 2024 — right up until the moment many Democrats, led by Pelosi, decided he was no longer their best option.

“With love and respect for Joe Biden, she kept us in the game,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., a longtime Pelosi ally, said two hours before she spoke. “She did the right thing.”

Her efforts to pressure Biden were complemented by Obama confidants who turned on him publicly. Biden was personally hurt by betrayals that occurred at a time when he thought he could bounce back from the debate performance and win the presidency again. Those wounds may never heal.

John Morgan, a major Democratic donor from Florida who said he speaks frequently with Pelosi, described her as being “extremely distraught about this because she genuinely loves Joe Biden.”

On Wednesday, former New Orleans mayor and senior Biden White House adviser Mitch Landrieu declined to address whether Pelosi deserves praise or blame.

“The torch has been passed,” said Landrieu, who was a co-chair of Biden’s campaign and continues in that role for Harris. “We’re talking about the future now.”

But for more than three weeks, as fellow Democrats lobbied Biden publicly and privately to drop his re-election bid, he and his allies took ever greater umbrage.

He had sent Trump packing from the White House by winning the 2020 election, he had delivered substantive policy wins on national infrastructure, climate change and other priorities, and he had carried out his job with dignity. The lack of faith in his ability to bounce back from adversity stung, as did the cascade of calls for his departure that they believe were encouraged, if not orchestrated, by Pelosi and other elites.

Anita Dunn, a longtime adviser to Biden who served in similar roles for Obama, needled Pelosi for not having done a better job holding onto the House in the 2022 midterms in an interview with Politico earlier this month.

“You know, clearly there were leaders of the party who decided to go ahead and go very public,” Dunn said. “And that gave permission to other people to go public.” Asked whether she was talking about Pelosi, specifically, Dunn replied, “Absolutely.”

Did Pelosi, Obama and others force out a man who stubbornly clung to power at the expense of the people who elected him? Or did they create a self-fulfilling prophecy that Biden couldn’t win by knee-capping him? If that question is ever fully answered, it likely won’t be until after all the votes are counted in November.

For now, Pelosi is being treated as the Democratic Party’s godmother and its godfather, as caretaker and enforcer. Mindy Kaling, the comedian hosting the third night of the Democratic convention, introduced her as “the mother of dragons” — a reference to the powerful queen in the television program “Game of Thrones.”

“The ethos of the party and here at this convention is there is no more paramount goal than ensuring Donald Trump comes nowhere near the Oval Office again — everything else is secondary to that,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. “Nancy Pelosi gave expression to that and acted on it.”

The reception Pelosi received Wednesday night suggests that the party’s delegates quickly forgave any venal sin committed in the name of the larger goals of defeating Trump and capturing congressional majorities. It was the same crowd that showered affection on Biden — who quickly departed the convention scene after his Monday night speech — on the previous two nights.

“I think there are, understandably so, deeply hurt feelings — but not among grassroots Democrats,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “The people who were the most loyal to Joe Biden were loyal to him because they are loyal Democrats. And so the moment the switch was made, the moment Joe Biden said this is our best path forward, all of those very loyal Democrats behaved like very loyal Democrats.”

If Biden and his allies remain frustrated with Pelosi — and many of them do — their anger hasn’t filtered down through the ranks of a party that is jubilant about Harris.

“She’s a person that did what she thought was best for the situation,” said Alex Davis, a 26-year-old grocer from Portland, Oregon, who attended the convention as a delegate. “Given her experience, she felt very comfortable in the position that she took as far as the primary and Biden’s decision.”

After speaking for more than 45 minutes on the opening night of the convention, in remarks split between promoting his legacy and cheering on Harris, Biden didn’t stick around to hear Obama’s address on Tuesday or Pelosi’s remarks Wednesday. Both of them applauded his presidency and his character.

“History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger,” Obama said. “And I am proud to call him my president, but I am even prouder to call him my friend.”

In her speech Tuesday night, Pelosi ticked through a list of Biden’s accomplishments and thanked him for “one of the most successful presidencies of modern times.”

Their words appeared designed to paper over their roles in fomenting the revolt that led Biden to end a career as a candidate that spanned more than half a century — from county councilman to senator to vice president and president. For the delegates here, and for most Democrats across the country, the consensus that quickly formed around Harris and the energy her candidacy has injected into the party are evidence that Pelosi acted in their best interests.

“I’ve just never heard a complaint from someone who’s not in power about Nancy Pelosi,” Schatz said. “These are some principals and some operatives having a disagreement about tactics and strategy. That doesn’t mean that those feelings aren’t hurt. It’s just that they don’t reverberate in any way that would affect the vote.”