House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said she would be comfortable with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as the Democratic presidential nominee in November.
The congresswoman was asked the question as she was leaving a closed-door meeting in the House basement Wednesday morning.
She replied with one word: “Yes.”
Other congressional Democrats have balked at the idea of Sanders, a longtime independent and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, being the party’s nominee in the general election.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday also suggested that he would be comfortable with the Vermont senator as his party’s nominee.
“Look, the bottom line is very simple,” Schumer said Tuesday when asked about Sanders’s praise of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s literacy program.
“We have a lot of strong nominees. … I’m not supporting one over the other, but I think every one of them will beat President Trump,” he said.
Sanders has surged to front-runner status after virtually tying for first in Iowa and winning New Hampshire and Nevada outright.
The Vermont Independent has also cut into former Vice President Joe Biden’s once-sizable lead in South Carolina, which is seen as a bellwether primary state with its large African American population.
In the latest NBC News-Marist poll, Biden held a 27 percent-23 percent lead over Sanders in South Carolina.
Biden’s candidacy could see new momentum after receiving the significant endorsement of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Wednesday morning. Clyburn is the highest-ranking black congressional lawmaker and Biden has held a firm lead on support from black voters. Nearly a third of South Carolina’s population is black.