Photo: Getty Images
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped into Sen. Bernie Sanders after he criticized the Democratic Party for having "abandoned" the working class, which he said ultimately led to Vice President Kamala Harris' loss to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election last week.
“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. That’s where we are,” Pelosi said on the New York Times podcast The Interview.
Sanders, 83, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, shared a scathing letter on his X account blasting the party.
“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,” Sanders said.
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right,” he added.
Pelosi was pressured to reveal what went wrong with Harris' campaign, but refrained from blaming the vice president for her loss to Trump during the podcast appearance.
“Well, I just completely disagree. And, in fact, Kamala Harris ran ahead of Bernie Sanders in Vermont,” Pelosi said.
“It tells you that the fact is, what we do, what our purpose is in the Democratic Party, is for America’s working families,” she added. “For example, under President Biden, you see the rescue package, money in the pockets of people, shots in the arm, children in school safely, working people back to work.”