House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Hillary Clinton on Tuesday morning, hours after the former secretary of state clinched the number of delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I’m a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Pelosi’s endorsement comes on the day of the California presidential primary, a major contest in which 475 delegates are at stake for the Democratic candidates. Despite trailing Clinton in both delegates and votes, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has promised to stay in the race “until the last vote is counted,” arguing that the July convention in Philadelphia will be contested.
Pelosi said she believed Sanders would play a positive role in influencing the party’s platform and noted “it’s not over until it’s over.”
“Bernie knows better than anyone what’s on the line in the election and that we at some point have to unify as we go forward,” she said. “He wants to influence the platform. I think that’s fine.”
Other major Democratic party leaders threw their support behind Clinton in recent weeks as her delegate and vote count swelled. California Gov. Jerry Brown endorsed Clinton last week, and President Barack Obama is expected to do so as early as tomorrow, according to a New York Times report.
