Reports: Pelosi not pushing Wendy Davis for Texas governor

Fundraising would not be a barrier for Wendy Davis (D) if the Texas state senator decides to run for governor, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said Monday, according to local reports. 

{mosads}But the House minority leader is not pressing Davis to run.

“People have to make their own decision,” Pelosi told a group of reporters during a visit to Austin, according to the Austin American-Statesman. 

Davis is weighing a run at the governor’s mansion in the wake of the national publicity sparked by her 11-hour filibuster in June of a Republican abortion bill.

Pelosi, visiting the Lone Star State Monday to recognize Women’s Equality Day, said Davis is “brilliant,” “courageous” and won’t have problems raising the tens of millions of dollars required to make her a viable candidate, according to local press reports.

“I don’t think that will be an obstacle,” Pelosi said.

But Pelosi also emphasized that the choice remains Davis’s to make.

“I think she knows how much we all respect her, but it’s not really about what anybody outside the state thinks,” Pelosi said, according to the Statesman. “It’s about what she thinks is possible.”

Davis churned countless headlines in June when she filibustered a GOP bill barring abortions after 20 weeks and creating tougher standards for abortion clinics. 

Her effort exhausted a special session of the Texas legislature, but the victory for Democrats was short-lived. 

In a second special session called in July, the restrictions were passed by both houses, and Gov. Rick Perry (R) signed them into law shortly afterward.