Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) does not think Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) should be booted from the Democratic caucus, despite many in the party calling for Stevens to be expelled after her shocking last-minute endorsement of the Republican candidate in the Senate race in Michigan.
Pelosi chose not to seek reelection this year and, like Stevens, will leave Congress in early January. However, the former speaker still wields considerable influence within the Democratic caucus.
With only weeks remaining in the session, Pelosi said she would rather “focus on the very positive” after Democrats decisively took back the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
“I don’t think we should start making judgments about anybody in the caucus at this point. … I want to be helpful to [Stevens] in terms of how she deals with this, but I’m not supporting kicking her out,” Pelosi told reporters Tuesday.
Pelosi said she already had spoken with Stevens to convey her disappointment about her backing Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who ultimately won the Michigan seat.
Several top Democrats publicly condemned Stevens’s bombshell decision, while the Michigan Democratic Party swiftly kicked Stevens out of its ranks.
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