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Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the question of who she would support if former Vice President Kamala Harris and outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom run for president in 2028 as expected.
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“Let’s let them make their announcements, OK? Because we’re talking about speculation. We don’t know who’s running. We’ll find out soon,” she told Politico columnist Jonathan Martin during a conference at the downtown SAFE Credit Union convention center on Tuesday.
Pelosi announced last November that she would retire after 38 years in Congress — 20 of which she spent as her party’s leader — cementing a legacy as a prolific fundraiser and master negotiator who unified competing interparty factions.
She spoke at length about the Democrats’ chances of retaking the U.S. House majority, Newsom’s presidential ambitions, and her support for San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who is running to succeed her in California’s 11th congressional district.
She also said that those close to former President Joe Biden “should have acted” sooner when questions about his mental clarity began dogging his reelection campaign in summer 2024.
“I do think that those who did know should have acted upon that information,” Pelosi said. “There was staff saying the family knew. The family said the staff (knew). I don’t know.”
She said she told Biden during a private prayer meeting that she had “come to question” his campaign’s polling and to consider if there was a “better campaign to win the White House” as polls showed voters growing concerned about his mental fitness.
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Pelosi said the Democrats had a “great bench” going into the November midterms, in which she hopes the party picks up 30 seats as it hopes to capitalize on voter discontent with President Donald Trump and Republicans due to the ongoing Iran war and other financial costs.
She compared it to 2006, when the party retook control of both chambers of Congress and installed her as its first female House speaker.
“We will win because this is how we won in ‘06,” she said, which Barack Obama told her helped his “path” to winning the presidency in 2008. “When we win this time, it will be the path to the presidency because the public will see the difference, the leverage that a Democratic Congress can bring.”
She declined to say whether she would support Newsom, who is related to her brother-in-law, San Francisco businessman Ron Pelosi.
“When he decides to run, we’ll find out what that will be. I think he’s extraordinarily talented,” she said.
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This story was originally published August 11, 2026 at 3:42 PM.