Rep. Kathleen Rice (D., N.Y.) denied Thursday that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is an "out of touch San Francisco liberal," but did say that Pelosi's time leading the party in Congress has "come and gone."
"I'm not going to pretend that this is an easy conversation to have," she said. "It's not easy speaking truth to power. Nancy Pelosi was a great speaker. She is a great leader. But her time has come and gone."
Rice appeared Thursday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where she was asked about her call a day earlier for Pelosi to step aside, in the wake of a disappointing election loss for Democrats in Georgia this week.
"Well, I've been very clear that we need leadership change," Rice said. "There's no question about it."
"I sat in a meeting the other day, and I listened to a rationale as to how we should be happy as a caucus because we didn't lose as badly this past two days ago as we did a year ago, but we're still losing and that's my concern," Rice said.
Sam Stein asked her if criticism of Pelosi as an "out of touch San Francisco liberal" was accurate.
"I do not believe that she is an out of touch San Francisco liberal," Rice said, adding it was unfair for Republicans to criticize her that way.