Biden congratulates Pelosi on Speaker nomination

President-elect Joe Biden phoned Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday to congratulate her on being nominated Speaker of the House for another term.

“President-elect Biden called Speaker Pelosi to congratulate her on her election as Democratic nominee for Speaker of the House and express that he looks forward to working with her and Democratic leadership in the House on a shared agenda to get COVID-19 under control and build our economy back better,” Biden’s office said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

House Democrats voted privately on Wednesday to nominate Pelosi to serve another two years as Speaker. Pelosi has led the party since 2003 and has been serving her second stint as Speaker since Democrats regained control of the chamber in 2018.

She indicated to reporters that her next term as Speaker would be her last.

Wednesday’s phone call is the third between Biden and Pelosi since the former vice president was projected the winner of the presidential election on Nov. 7.  Pelosi called to congratulate Biden following his victory, and the two spoke along with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) last week about addressing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Pelosi and Schumer will be key allies in Congress for Biden as he looks to shepherd his agenda. While Democrats will control the House in the next Congress, the balance of power in the Senate remains up in the air as two races in Georgia head to runoffs in January.