House Speaker American Nancy Pelosi, welcome to Inside California Politics.
We appreciate you being on the show,
your first appearance on the show,
and and I want to start talking about the Senate
race because you have endorsed Adam Schiff.
We have reported that widely on the show right now.
So voting's happening right now.
Ballots have been delivered to people's mailboxes.
If there's some voters who are undecided,
what would you say to them?
Thank you so much for the opportunity to be with
you today.
The Senate race is very important.
I endorsed Adam Schiff probably a year ago
when Dianne Feinstein said that she would not be seeking
re election.
I said if she did not,
then I would be supporting Adam Schiff.
Why? Well, for the past 20 years I had been
speaker
or leader, and for 20 years the top Democrat in
the House
looking out for California appropriations,
authorization formulas, waivers and all the rest.
A big state, a great state of ideas and size,
40 million people. This beautiful
gift of God to this,
the land that we have,
knowing about the environment and every subject,
entrepreneur, wise, environmentally in every way.
And I wanted the strongest possible person to be in
that job.
And to me, that person is Adam Schiff.
Very respectful For the other candidates,
the Democrats who are in the race,
no offense to them, but I wanted the strongest possible
person.
We are a big state.
We have to deal with some states that have
fewer than constituents than I have in my Congressional District.
And they have two senators.
We have 40 million people.
We have two senators and so we need heft.
We need knowledge, we need legislative skill,
we need experience. And Atom Ship commands great respect.
Everything I've always seen him do,
he has done with great effectiveness in the Congress,
So I'm very proud to support him and I think
his campaign is going very well.
But it's about you. It's about our issues,
our constituents about their issues,
their kitchen table issues and the rest that are so
important and the the the greatness of California that has
to be met with that leadership.
My next question I want to ask you about representation.
And and before I ask and I just want to
point out the fact that our polling shows this week
that Adam Schiff gets high marks among Women Voters.
A piece in the LA Times that came out this
week points to that fact too.
But throughout my reporting over the past couple of months,
once Senator Feinstein announced that she wasn't going to run
again and one question I got was,
wow, this is going to be the first time
in decades a woman is not going to have a
seat at the table.
Possibly, if if polls are right in the trends that
we're seeing come to fruition and Adam Schiff is our
next senator,
that a woman's not going to have to see the
have a seat at the table and.
And are we going backwards in a sense.
What do you say to that?
I don't think we're going backward.
And I say with great immodesty myself
that as leader of the Democrats in the House of
Representatives,
when I went to Congress,
there were 12 Democrats. There were women in the Congress.
Now there are 94. There is no one
among us who doesn't understand the importance of women at
the table.
Nothing is more wholesome. And we've been very blessed for
a long time,
for 30 years, to have two women and then one
woman.
Our vice president now
Senator Butler there as well,
but I'm talking now about
the strongest possible person in the job and that is
Adam Schiff and I,
I again, we have a great delegation of women from
California.
Some states don't even have a woman,
much less many women in our delegation.
And they have made a tremendous difference.
I could name them and their difference if you wish.
Well, we have limited time,
so we'll maybe we'll circle back to that.
But I want to ask you,
I want, I want to ask you about obviously another
big race that is going to be on the ballot
this election cycle and that is the race for president.
And over the past couple of weeks,
I'm really throughout this race,
the topic of age has come up after the special
counsel's report. You know, the
president's age has come up.
But also on the Republican side,
I mean, Donald Trump has had some comments that have
raised some eyebrows that have involved you confusing Nikki Haley
with you.
So you spent some time with the president in the
Bay Area this past week as he swung through the
state and made some announcements in LA and then did
some fundraising in the Bay Area.
So voters who might be questioning the
president's age, what do you say to them?
Well, it's interesting to me that the press is so
taken up with the president's age and says so little
about as a Republican who's just a couple of years,
two or three years younger than the president,
Why is that? I just don't get that.
But the and in the event,
putting that where it is,
to answer your question directly,
anyone who
doesn't understand the sharpness of Joe Biden,
his grand vision for our country,
his sharp knowledge and understanding of the challenges and the
issues that we face,
He doesn't even think of many of them as issues,
but as values to promote in this grand vision,
this legislative skill that he has strategic thinking to get
the job done.
That's why he was able to have,
in the two years that we were in the majority
and he was in the White House,
the greatest legislative record since Lyndon Johnson.
But that's all in the head.
The vision, the knowledge, the judgement,
the strategic thinking was also in is what is in
his heart,
his just, his empathy for the people that he cares
about them.
So every legislative initiative he takes,
he wants to know what does this mean at the
kitchen table for America's people.
And he has written some of this legislation,
he has campaigned on this legislation.
He is committed to it.
So as I say to your peril,
you misjudge how
sharp he is and the rest.
And again, I've worked with him for years,
for decades as and I know his knowledge as a
senator for so many years as the vice president of
the United States,
as president of the United States.
Really, God has blessed America at this time when we
have global challenges
where we have our democracy in our own country on
the ballot?
Because some of the things that that other person is
putting out there and saying
my whole thing about how I judge somebody is taken
from the national anthem.
Proof through the night that our flag is still there
with liberty and justice for all.
That's what Joe Biden is about.
That's what our country is facing on the other side
of the aisle.
Sadly, I wish people would take the Republican Party back.
It has turned into a cult to a,
in my view, a thug.
But nonetheless,
it's a great part of this done great things for
our country.
We worked with Republican presidents over the years
who are patriotic. We had differences of opinion
but no difference of support for our country.
So we can't win this conversation.
No Biden just win baby.
He's going to win just win baby.
The great Al Davis quote there you being in the
Bay Area but
we can't end this conversation without talking about you running
for re election.
Of course you know you have accomplished a lot during
your decades in the Senate.
Obviously first woman elected speaker,
first individual to be re elected as speaker since Sam
Rainburn,
but obviously you know you pass the torch to the
next generation and you talked a lot about that but
you
do you have some unfinished business that you would like
to see get across the finish line.
Is there specific legislation?
Well, I as speaker had awesome power.
It's probably the most challenging job in government this having
the same challenges issues wise as the President without the
staff and the bully pulpit.
So California has had a strong women in the lead
with our other members
being part of that strength.
I we do have some work to be done finish
the job.
We didn't finish all we wanted to do
in terms of home health care and a family and
medical leader.
Part of our build back better that we couldn't get
completely accomplished in the first two years and that the
Republicans just would not allow us to go forward with
in the next two. But also
I wanted to run again.
I had awesome power, now have awesome influence,
and I can make a difference in some of these
things,
says she immodestly. Well, you asked.
As they say, self promotion is a terrible thing,
but somebody's got to do it.
The the saving our democracy,
the oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.
Our flag is still there with liberty and justice for
all so important.
I think that's very much at risk with the person
that they're considering nominating on the other side of the
aisle.
I wish it weren't so.
I think they have plenty good candidates.
He is not among them.
So that was part of my motivation
to be able to help win the election elect Hakeem
Jeffries,
speaker. He will be Speaker of the House before you
know it.
I was hoping this year one thing and another we
just won in New York.
The number is going down.
But again, before the another year goes by,
we will have Hakeem and Pete Aguilar from our state,
Ted Lieu from our state,
Catherine Clark from Massachusetts, as well as Hakim in the
leadership for our country.
Maxine Waters as Chair of Committee,
Chairs of committee. Mark Chicano,
Chair of Veterans Affairs California
has tremendous leadership in the Congress.
We want it to be in the majority.
That's why I'm there. All
right, we will leave it there.
You just win, baby.
On that note, House Speaker American Nancy Pelosi,
we appreciate you joining us here on Inside California Politics.
Nikki Nikki. Thank you.