Nancy Pelosi scores yet another win with Harris' VP pick

• Nancy Pelosi gets what she wants.

• The Hill reported last week that Pelosi wanted Kamala Harris to pick Tim Walz as her VP.

• Pelosi had also worked behind the scenes to oust Joe Biden from the race.

Nancy Pelosi is a master at influencing the Democratic Party, and she scored another win this week with Kamala Harris' pick for vice president.

Harris, who's now officially the Democratic presidential nominee, announced on Tuesday that Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota would be her running mate.

Pelosi expressed support for Walz on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday.

"Tim Walz is wonderful," Pelosi told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, adding: "He has a great vision for our country. It's about working-class families, about rural America, about our veterans."

Before he became the governor of Minnesota, Walz served in the House alongside Pelosi from 2007 to 2019.

And though the two didn't see eye to eye on every issue — Pelosi once blocked Walz's bid to become the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee — Pelosi still favored Walz above Harris' other VP contenders, The Hill reported last week.

When asked whom Pelosi liked for the VP pick, a source close to her told The Hill that she "is always especially fond of former House colleagues." Walz was the only former House member in the running for the VP role.

It's not clear how much influence Pelosi exerted on Harris' choice of running mate. A representative for Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Regardless, it's clear that Pelosi has enough political sway to push for what she wants.

Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, the California Democrat and former House speaker was working behind the scenes to oust Biden from the race.

Even in public she had skillfully hinted that Biden should drop out, telling the "Morning Joe" hosts in July, as Biden repeatedly asserted that he wasn't going anywhere, that Biden needed to make a decision.

"It was not a question at that time of whether he would run or not," Pelosi told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly in an interview on July 31 that aired on Tuesday. "It was a question of whether they would have the campaign that was necessary to win. Because I think that the biggest danger to our country is that what's-his-name would be reelected president of the United States."

When asked about her power within the party, particularly on Biden's decision to drop out, Pelosi told Kelly that she wasn't the one instigating calls with other Democrats but that they were coming to her with their concerns about Biden staying in the race.

"I did not call one person," Pelosi told Kelly. "I read in the press that I was burning up the phone lines. I didn't call one person, people called me. Some of them I received their calls. Some of them I didn't — didn't even have time to."

Pelosi told Kelly that she had not spoken with Biden since he made his decision to drop out public. On Monday, when CNN's Dana Bash asked Pelosi if her relationship with Biden was OK, she answered: "You'd have to ask him. But I hope so."

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