What Pelosi Has to Say About the Next Speaker of the House and Running for Reelection

House Republicans are struggling to unite amid fractional infighting that led to a historic vote to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House last week. Just days before a possible vote to replace him, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi told KQED Political Breakdown hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos why she thought McCarthy was toppled.

In her experience, a successful speakership means cultivating consensus. Instead, McCarthy built his power on shaky ground, having reneged on promises to Democrats, who could have saved him.

“I say this carefully, but I think people didn’t trust his word,” Pelosi said.

In a wide-ranging interview in San Francisco Monday night, Pelosi touted U.S. support for Israel as the war intensifies against Hamas. She also responded to the recent appointment of Sen. Laphonza Butler, and gave an update on the health of her husband, Paul Pelosi, after a man allegedly broke into their home and attacked him with a hammer last year.

Last week, House Democrats could have voted to save McCarthy. But they had no reason to trust him, Pelosi told KQED, nor was it their job to save him from the infighting in his own party.

“The Republicans took down their speaker,” Pelosi said. And when she herself was voted in as speaker, “I never had one Republican vote, nor would it have been appropriate.”

When asked if she supported either of the two leading conservatives for speaker of the House, Reps. Jim Jordan or Steve Scalise, Pelosi pushed back on the premise of the question.

“That’s up to the Republicans,” she said.

One of interim Speaker Patrick McHenry’s first acts was to evict Pelosi from her hideaway office at the Capitol, which is often a courtesy space afforded to past House speakers. Pelosi said she didn’t care about that — she’s far more concerned with practical matters, like Republican efforts to cut funds that put food on people’s plates.

Laphonza Butler

Laphonza Butler, a former labor leader and Democratic strategist, was sworn in as California’s new U.S. senator last week to serve the remainder of a term left open by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Shafer pressed Pelosi on Butler’s appointment and whether she should run for a full term, particularly in light of Pelosi’s endorsement of Rep. Adam Schiff, who is running for Feinstein’s seat along with Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.

“She’s wonderful,” Pelosi said of Butler. “She’s up to the task. She’s talented, and values based, and knowledgeable, and respected and the rest. So she’ll do a great job. And if she decides to run, she decides to run.”

But, Pelosi added, “I’m for Adam.”

@kqednewsWhat does Nancy Pelosi think of Laphonza Butler?

♬ original sound – KQED

On Paul Pelosi’s health

Pelosi also gave an update on the health of her husband Paul as he recovers from an attack by David DePape, who allegedly broke into their home in October last year threatening to kidnap the former speaker, before bludgeoning her husband’s skull with a hammer.

“Paul is making rapid progress. Probably about 80% back, and he’s doing what he needs to do in terms of therapy and the rest,” Pelosi said, Monday. “Hopefully by Christmas or New Year, he’ll be OK.”

Pelosi said her husband isn’t a political person. DePape, she said, “came looking for me, and Paul paid the price.”

DePape’s federal trial is set to begin in San Francisco in November.

Reelection

The former House Speaker announced last month that she’d run for another two-year congressional term in 2024.

Why’s she staying?

Pelosi touted her experience as one of the most knowledgeable lawmakers in Congress, even among otherwise “brilliant” people. And called herself “masterful as a legislator.”

Pelosi previously said she wants to stay in Congress to help San Francisco recover from its multitude of crises, from homelessness to the pandemic to the fentanyl epidemic, and to thwart the reelection of former President Donald Trump.

At 83, Pelosi is part of a generation of high-profile politicians who are under scrutiny for continuing to serve in office despite their age, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, 81, and President Joe Biden, 80.

In a nod to that critique, Pelosi added, “I eat a lot of chocolate, so I don’t ever feel tired or anything like that. Or old.”

As KQED has covered previously, Pelosi’s commitment to reelection will delay the electoral hopes of Democratic hopefuls down the ticket, including state Sen. Scott Wiener, who had hoped to run for her seat.

On Hamas

Pelosi condemned Hamas for killing hundreds of Israeli citizens this past weekend.

“That’s using violence against civilians as a weapon of war. Don’t be a coward. You want to go for war? Fight militarily,” she said.

Instead, “you can see them kidnapping little children, 80-year-old grand-moms.”

Pelosi’s remarks come in the wake of a renewed war between Israel and Hamas as the death toll tops 1,600, according to The Associated Press. More than 900 people have been killed in Israel since the surprise attack Saturday, when Hamas fighters infiltrated Israeli homes and took more than 100 people hostage.

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus reportedly called it “by far the worst day in Israeli history.”

Israel responded with deadly missile attacks on the Gaza Strip, where at least 680 people have reportedly been killed and thousands injured.

In San Francisco, hundreds marched over the weekend in support of Palestinian refugees and to demand the United States end military aid to Israel.

And at San Francisco’s Congregation Sherith Israel on Sunday morning, during the Simchat Torah holiday, Pelosi voiced her support for Israel “personally, politically, officially, diplomatically, militarily, in every way.”