(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., raised questions about why former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not immediately back Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, which she announced on Sunday.
In a Tuesday interview with Politico, Waters appeared to call out the two powerful Democrats’ delayed endorsement, hinting at their potential dislike of Harris.
“I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Waters said. “I know they were part of the little group with Nancy Pelosi that was telling him he had to step aside.”
Harris announced her presidential bid on Sunday after President Joe Biden exited the ticket under pressure from Pelosi and Schumer. Notably, the two Democrats did not back Harris until Tuesday, hours after Politico published its Waters interview.
“I wondered, do they have a mystery candidate around? Why are they so interested in an open convention? I wondered what was propelling that,” Waters added.
Her comments followed remarks from Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who told MSNBC that some lawmakers were strongly opposed to Harris as the Democratic nominee, although she did not name specific individuals.
“I do know that behind closed doors, while I won’t name names, that there were people that were absolutely, like, ‘It can’t be the vice president,’” Crockett claimed. “In one breath they were saying, ‘The president needs to be out.’ In the next breath, they were also saying, ‘It can’t be her.’”
Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett says she's "not confident at all" in Kamala's chances — because "behind closed doors," Democrats are saying "it can't be her." Yikes! pic.twitter.com/VYixspTSXJ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 22, 2024
Harris’s unpopularity likely fueled concerns among Democrats. Like her boss, Harris enjoys some of the lowest approval ratings in history.
Addressing the polls and the suggestion that Pelosi and Schumer were waiting to vet Harris’s popularity, Waters was critical.
“I understand they may be waiting for some polls, but you know, what do I think about polls? You know, for months now it has been a one, two, three percentage point difference, and I haven’t seen much more than that,” she stated.
Waters said that Harris’s unpopularity did not bother her, citing Hillary Clinton’s favorable polls in 2016. Clinton went on to lose to then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“Don’t forget, I was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton. And I know what the polls did — they gave me a heart attack,” Waters concluded.
