SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday weighed in on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision not to run again for a leadership position in Congress, something he said he and his staff have been planning for.
"My relationship with Nancy goes back to my birth," Newsom said in a press conference during a visit to Napa to promote the state's investments in wildfire prevention and resilience.
Apart from his personal connection, Newsom said Pelosi's work in California leadership in the federal government is "not to be underappreciated" and there has been more of it than most people will ever know.
"The amount of things Nancy Pelosi has done behind the scenes during the Trump years, to stop cuts, Draconian impacts to the people of the state of California…. you won't have enough tape even if it's digital for me to illuminate or highlight just those few years," he explained.
After reminiscing on Pelosi's career as Speaker of the House, Newsom shifted his focus to the future and noted that he and his staff in the governor’s office have been strategizing knowing this moment may come.
"We are mindful that we're going to have to be more proactive as a state in terms of our efforts in Washington D.C. now that she’s stepped aside from her leadership position," he said. "We’re mindful as well that that power dynamic seems to be pushing itself back further east and that there is part of the United States west of the Mississippi that’s often forgotten, in terms of the national discourse. So we’re gonna have to step up our game."
"We've been preparing for this. All our positions, we have sell by dates. She doesn't, there are no term limits. The rest of us, we do. We come and go, we’re given a moment in time. She’s extended her tenure in remarkable and historic ways. But we did anticipate it in perpetuity. And so we've been talking about strategies to future proof under new circumstances," he continued.
Those circumstances could include Central California Rep. Kevin McCarthy inheriting the the role of Speaker, a scenario Newsom previously told CBS News "fills him with fear." He said he’s told his staff not to take Pelosi or any California congress members for granted.
"I love to quote Jerry Garcia, he said 'you don’t want to be the best of the best, you want to be the only one that does what you do.' That describes Nancy Pelosi," he said. "She’s redefined that position. No one has been more effective, no one has been more consequential in modern American history in that position."
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
