Pelosi tears into Bernie Sanders for saying Dems 'abandoned' working class, hurting Harris's chances

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had criticized the Democratic Party, with which he caucuses, for abandoning the working class. He felt that had hurt Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the White House, according to the New York Post. 

Sanders had sent a fiery letter to his former party the day after the election accusing them of “abandoning” the working class and then being surprised that they didn’t show up to vote for Harris. 

“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,” the 83-year-old Democratic Socialist wrote in a statement on X.

“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 pushed back hard. “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,” she told The New York Times podcast “The Interview.”

When asked about what had gone wrong for the Democrats, Pelosi chose not to blame Harris. “Well, I just completely disagree. And, in fact, Kamala Harris ran ahead of Bernie Sanders in Vermont,” Pelosi told the podcast.

“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.

Pelosi called Harris’s loss “heartbreaking,” and said “What did, what’s his name? What did Trump do when he was president? One bill that gave a tax cut to the richest people in America.” 

Pelosi, who is seen as the driving force in getting Joe Biden to drop out of the race for president in July, cited cultural issues as another factor. 

“Well, there are cultural issues involved in elections as well. Guns, God and gays — that’s the way they say it,” she added.

“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.”