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Progressives were some of the loudest Democrats cheering on Twitter after Kamala Harris announced her selection of Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday. But they weren’t the only winners in the party.
Some of the biggest political victors as the Minnesota governor joined the presidential ticket were the biggest power players in the Democratic Party, whose influence has now been solidified after their involvement on the winning side of two monumental battles that have taken place in Democratic politics over the past month and a half.
At the top of the list: Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. The former president and speaker of the House were both reported to have been involved — in Pelosi’s case, very directly — in both the efforts to convince President Joe Biden to step down from the 2024 ticket and for his replacement, Kamala Harris, to select Walz as her running mate.
Harris named Walz as her vice presidential nominee on Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation and a shadow campaign which had come down Walz, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
Neither of the party’s two biggest kingmakers have been particularly eager to claim any glory in public. Pelosi, for her part, attempted to tamp down on speculation surrounding her role in the former discussion when asked about it by Lesley Stahl this past weekend on CBS Sunday Morning. She did not, however, deny Stahl’s assertion that Biden was “furious” over her perceived betrayal.
“He knows I love him very much,” Pelosi said. She went on: “I wasn’t the leader of any pressure [campaign] ... Let me say things that I didn’t do: I didn’t call one person. I did not call one person. I could always say to him: ’I did not call anybody.’”
Obama remains largely out of the political spotlight these days, and has said nothing publicly about his own role in discussions surrounding Biden’s exit. But on Walz’s ascension, the ex-president released a lengthy statement on Tuesday.
“Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect — not all that suprising considering the fact that he served in the National Guard for 24 years,” wrote Obama and the former first lady Michelle Obama in a joint statement that added the pair “couldn’t be happier” for Walz and his family.
Like Vice President Harris, Governor @Tim_Walz believes that government works to serve us. Not just some of us, but all of us. That’s what makes him an outstanding governor, and that’s what will make him an even better vice president. Michelle and I couldn’t be happier for Tim… pic.twitter.com/s0RmVs7bGL
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 6, 2024
One of the many lessons that can be gleaned from Donald Trump’s continued dominance over the Republican Party is the importance of backing winners — whether that be winning political movements, winning candidates, or whatever else. Trump, while judicious in only handing out his endorsement to True Believers and loyal sycophants, also tends to only back candidates he thinks can win Republican primaries (his record in general elections is much more spotty).
Obama and Pelosi both understand that notion, and Pelosi in particular is thought to have become a sympathetic ear to frustrated House Democrats in the past month or so due to her unceasing drive to help her party protect vulnerable seats in the House. While she never came out with a direct call for Biden to step aside, she made numerous statements which gave clear political cover to House Democrats who needed to do so to cover their own bases and respond to voter concerns in their districts. It’s a move that may have infuriated the president, but one that was wholly predictable given that those same vulnerable Democrats in the House and Senate were privately worried about an electoral wipeout in November after Biden’s disastrous June debate performance.
And while they’ve won no friends in Bidenworld, both Pelosi and Obama are certainly coming out looking like the wise elders of the party in the wake of Kamala Harris’s promotion to the top of the ticket.
Democrats around the country are reporting a surge in volunteers, while the Harris campaign has rejuvenated a fundraising operation that had atrophied as big donors closed their wallets following the debate. The vice president reported a $310m haul for the month of July, an impressive surge given that Biden was the presumptive nominee for the first half of the month — and then some.
Pelosi, as speaker emeritus and no longer head of the House Democratic caucus, is not cultivating political influence for her own future career prospects. Neither is Obama, who was already president for two terms and (rightfully) has no desire to directly enter the political sphere again.
But both have clear interests in helping shape the future of liberal politics in America, and with these latest behind-the-scenes moves are in a prime position to continue doing so.
