House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Wednesday she would be comfortable with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) as the 2020 Democratic nominee, after saying last year her party did not support socialism.
With Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, favored to capture the nomination, Pelosi replied "yes" to a reporter asking if she would accept him as the party's standard-bearer.
However, Pelosi told 60 Minutes last year that the left-wing economic system embraced by Sanders didn't comport with her views.
"When Medicare was done by the Congress at the time, under Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan said, 'Medicare will lead us to a socialist dictatorship.' This is an ongoing theme of the Republicans," Pelosi said. "However, I do reject socialism as an economic system. If people have that view, that's their view. That is not the view of the Democratic Party."
After Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in 2018, Pelosi said her goal was to "hold the center." Since becoming speaker, she has faced pressure from new members such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) to embrace a far-left agenda.
In the same 60 Minutes interview, Pelosi dismissed Ocasio-Cortez and the wing of progressives as a mere "five people." Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Sanders's presidential bid.