Welcome back to State of the Union.
We still do not know
which party is going to control
the House of Representatives
as Western states
continue to count votes.
Let's go now to a woman who knows
that part of the country extreme
House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat of Cali
Thank you so much for joining me
this morning, Madam Speaker,
I want to, of course, ask about
everything
having to do with the election.
But I want to start by
asking about your husband, Paul.
How is he doing?
Well, thank you for asking.
Good morning.
Each day takes us closer to reco
It's a long haul,
but he's doing well,
comforted by the good wishes
and especially the prayers
of so many people throughout the
We thank them all for that.
And again, so many who said
I'm not be sure to vote
because this has gone too far.
But anyway,
he is
surrounded by our children
and grandchildren and the rest
and the doctors say
a little less activity there, mo
But thank you.
Let me ask you about the fact th
now, as we speak,
the Democrats
need 14 seats to win control.
Republicans need seven.
Half of the 20 seats are outstan
Many of them
half of them,
I should say, are in your home
state of California.
Will Democrats keep the House?
Well, we will see when the
people have finished speaking
and the votes have been counted
I'm very proud
of our
Democratic candidates,
both incumbents, for seeking ree
and our red to blue our challeng
They never
took any guidance from those
who would say this is over.
Democrats can't win because hist
that conventional wisdom was con
and it certainly wasn't wisdom.
And they knew their purpose.
They knew why they were running
to protect our democracy.
Save our planet
protect our values and the rest.
And they did not heed
any guidance of
you should change your message.
They knew their districts.
They related to their constituen
and they had produced a great re
Who would have thought two month
that this red wave
would turn into a little tiny tr
if that at all?
But we never believed that we be
I think the leaving is
one of the most important pieces
But believe they believed in the
They believed in our country.
They believed in our plan.
Their plan to win.
Madam Speaker, we'll see.
You said that they knew their di
You know all the districts
especially when it comes to the
still out in California.
How. Where are you right now?
How confident are you
about potentially
keeping control of the house?
Well, our purpose my purpose in
all of this
is to first
and foremost protect our incumbe
And that is what we have done
in California
and we where we have seen opport
to grow our majority.
That has been our priority
both in California and elsewhere
We're disappointed as to
what happened in New York,
because that that is a setback i
of our our calculations before.
But we'll see that there's so ma
still out.
I've said
this is like the Olympics
and a half of second.
You can be gold, silver or bronz
or honored to be an Olympian.
So we'll see where this takes us
But I think you see a path to th
that is must brighter
than what was predicted by the p
and those who wanted us
to change our message.
You mentioned in New York, in fa
four of your losses came from a
very blue state in New York,
including your colleague,
Sean Patrick Maloney, your fello
It might
make the difference between winn
and losing control.
That's right.
Well, let me first
say, Sean Patrick
Maloney did an outstanding job
as the chair
of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee
He and the team that he assemble
a great deal of credit
for keeping us with a path.
I'm sorry about his loss.
It's a big loss to the Congress
and the country.
But I do want to salute Presiden
for his campaigning.
President Obama,
all of it
raising the urgency of the elect
and the awareness
that people must vote
and that they shouldn't.
Listen to those who say
this is a foregone conclusion
because of history.
But it's about the future
and get out there.
What happened in New York?
Well, I think
here's what I here's what I alwa
You know, as a former chair
of the California Democratic Par
you have to take every district
at a time.
You cannot make sweeping overvie
the day after the election
within the
time of the voting account,
just every district at a time.
Our message
to people over politics,
lower cost,
bigger paychecks, safer communit
served us well
and the rest of the country.
Every race has to be analyzed
about what happened in that race
If you really are going to learn
rather than draw a conclusion
in the course of the campaigns,
then people would ask me
about a particular race.
I'll say I don't know.
I haven't been on the ground the
I've been on the ground
on many of the races.
And so I was confident.
But it was interesting to me
that people would talk about the
We didn't really know
what they were talking about.
And I think the results have
are evidence of that.
We're still alive.
But again, the races are close a
we just you know,
we don't pray for a victory.
I was grew up in a political fam
You don't pray for victory,
but you pray that God's will
will be done.
And all that Sunday.
That's what we pray on this Sund
Madam Speaker,
you alluded to this
when I asked about your husband,
but I just want to ask
specifically and kind of point
blank about the fact that
there has been such extremism,
such political violence,
and what happened to your
your husband was was horrific.
Do you think that that had
an impact on voters
as they cast their ballots
I don't.
And I know that what people tell
that's anecdotally and
we always say it
the plural
anecdote is not data
necessarily,
but it is a trend in what I'm he
But it wasn't just the attack.
It was the Republican reaction t
which was disgraceful.
And that I think really
the attack is horrible.
I mean, imagine
what I feel is the one who was t
and my husband paying the price
and the traumatic effect on our
But that trauma is
intensified by the ridiculous
disrespectful attitude
that the Republicans
and there's no
nobody disassociating themselves
from the horrible response
that they gave to it.
So you think that turned into th
that turned voters off
They tell me so.