Pelosi: Democrats ‘calm, cool and collected’ amid contentious primary

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday downplayed divisions in her party over which presidential candidate is best positioned to take on President Trump, insisting that Democrats are “calm, cool and collected.”

Centrist House Democrats facing tough reelection races this year have been openly worrying about the prospect of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) becoming the party’s White House nominee after his strong performances in the first two early-state contests and the poor showing by former Vice President Joe Biden.

But Pelosi denied that establishment Democrats are fretting over the presidential nomination process at this point.

“I can hear you all say, oh, we’re all in a panic, the established Democrats. I’m like, is there some establishment that I don’t know about around here?” Pelosi asked reporters in the Capitol.

“We respect the process. The people will winnow the field,” she said. “We’re calm, cool and collected.”

Biden currently leads the field in the number of endorsements from House and Senate Democrats, but former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been steadily rolling out new endorsements from lawmakers as well in recent days.

Pelosi acknowledged that various factions in the Democratic caucuses will have their own opinions over who would be the best candidate, but downplayed that as typical.

“I mean, just because some people may be speaking out about not liking one candidate or the other — that’s the Democratic way. That’s politics. It’s a messy business,” Pelosi said.

“Members will make their endorsements as they see fit on their own in their own communications with their constituents and with the candidates as they choose,” she added.

“We’re calm, we’re cool, we’re collected,” Pelosi repeated. “We have faith in the American people. And we’ll be guided by their judgment as we go forward.”

A number of vulnerable House Democrats openly fretted this week that Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, would not only lose to Trump in November but lead the party to losing the House majority.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, is building momentum on Capitol Hill as some Democrats start to consider him as a centrist alternative to Biden who may be better positioned to take on Trump.

Biden came in fifth place in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night, following his fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses last week.

Bloomberg is not competing in the early states and is instead focusing his efforts on the Super Tuesday states that vote on March 3.