WASHINGTON — Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca., told reporters Tuesday that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer should “of course” remain in his role after she criticized her Senate colleagues last week for conceding the fight on the Republican spending bill.

Pelosi also said her successor, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is the leader the party needs headed into next year’s midterm elections. She encouraged him to take a page out of the playbooks of fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have been rallying across the country as part of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, pitching their progressive politics and ginning up opposition to Trump and Republicans. 

What You Need To Know

  • Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca., told reporters on Tuesday that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer should “of course” remain in his role after she criticized her Senate colleagues last week for conceding the fight on the Republican spending bill
  • Pelosi also said her successor, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is the leader the party needs headed into next year’s midterm elections
  • She encouraged him to take a page out of the playbooks of fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have been rallying across the country as part of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, pitching their progressive politics and ginning up opposition to Trump and Republicans
  • She noted Jeffries “has a job to do” in Washington, but that mobilizing the party’s supporters is “essential” and that while political maneuvering in Washington was “very important,” there is “no success without” a strategy beyond the nation’s capital

“I think Hakeem Jeffries, he is, of course, knowledgeable about the issues. He’s forceful. … In terms of policy, he’s there. In terms of politics, he’s there. And in terms of the American people, he’s there for them,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol after a meeting of the House Democratic caucus. “The more they hear from Hakeem, I think, the better our country will be.”

Schumer and Jeffries, both Brooklyn Democrats wrangling their respective cohorts in Republican-controlled Washington, have faced mounting criticism for their strategy in combating President Donald Trump as he implements his agenda of massive cuts to government services, immigration crackdowns and consolidation of power with little resistance. With Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, procedural options for the two leaders are limited, but Democrats — including Pelosi, who still represents her San Francisco district in the House — have consistently complained they should be doing more.

Last week, Pelosi said her experience leading House Democrats for 20 years taught her not to “give away anything for nothing,” and she thought that’s what happened when Schumer worked with Republicans to pass a six-month spending bill and avoid a government shutdown without securing much of anything in return. But on Tuesday, she told reporters Schumer, her longtime legislative partner, should “of course” remain on the job.

Schumer, 74, said on Sunday he has no plans to step aside despite frustrations with his approach so far and has said passing the spending bill was not ideal but better than a government shutdown that would put people out of work and potentially give Trump even more leeway to reshape the federal government.

“Schumer is the leader of the party, and it should not have happened, period. No question about it,” said Sanders, the Vermont independent, in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” that aired Sunday. “But the bottom line is not just Chuck Schumer. It's not just Chuck Schumer. You've got a Democratic Party in general that is dominated by billionaires, just as the Republican Party is, that … operates under the leadership of a bunch of inside-the-beltway consultants, very well paid, who are way out of touch with the 32,000 people who are here today.”

Sanders was being interviewed from Denver, where he rallied with Ocasio-Cortez and drew a crowd bigger than most he saw during his popular 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive who ran for Congress after working on Sanders’ 2016 campaign and the most prominent heir to the 83-year-old’s movement, has been floated as a potential challenger or successor to Schumer in New York. But the Senate leader isn’t up for reelection until 2028.

On Tuesday, Pelosi suggested Jeffries, who has spent some time this year traveling to his members’ district, follow the lead of his party’s left wing and tour the country in an attempt to mobilize the Democratic Party’s grassroots base.

“I think it is essential for people to see him because he’s a great leader, eloquent beyond words and, really, we’re very, very proud of him,” Pelosi said in response to a question from Spectrum News. “This big crowd for Bernie and for AOC is wonderful, and it’s a positive sign that there’s a desire to do something about it on the part of the grassroots.”

She noted Jeffries “has a job to do” in Washington, but that mobilizing the party’s supporters is “essential” and that while political maneuvering in Washington was “very important,” there is “no success without” a strategy beyond the nation’s capital. 

At a separate event on Tuesday morning highlighting a bill that aims to address paycheck fairness for women, Jeffries praised Pelosi as “the greatest speaker of all time.”

His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her advice.