Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made a bold prediction about the 2022 midterms during an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" Monday night.
The California Democrat sat down for an interview with Colbert before an enthusiastic audience. The speaker wore a pink suit with pink high heels and had a pin on her lapel that featured an American and Ukrainian flag.
"I believe that we will hold the House," Pelosi said as the audience roared with applause. "We will hold the House by winning more seats. We won the 40 seats, then we lost some when Trump was on the ballot, we lost some on the Trump districts, but we held enough seats to hold the House with him on the ballot. He’s not on the ballot now."
After mentioning former President Trump, Pelosi feigned an apology about uttering his name to the audience. "Oh, did I say his name? I didn’t mean to," she said while holding her hand to her chest.
"We'll have the videotapes fumigated," Colbert offered.
"Perhaps you can bleep that out," she added.
NANCY PELOSI BOOED DURING SURPRISE APPEARANCE AT NYC MUSIC FESTIVAL, VIDEOS APPEAR TO SHOW
"It is a family show," Colbert joked, before pressing Pelosi about why she was confident about the midterms.
During a lengthy response, Pelosi cited backlash from Jan. 6 and the overturning of Roe v. Wade as part of the reason why Democrats are "totally ready."
"The greatest influx of candidates came forward [after January 6th], young people, people of color, people of different generations, different backgrounds and the rest. The beautiful diversity of America came forward. They didn't pay attention to those pundits who said, 'You can't win,'" Pelosi reasoned.
"When Roe v. Wade came down, boom, we were totally ready. And that just caused a whole different attitude on the part of some about whether we could win," she added.
After Pelosi offered her reasoning, Colbert mentioned that she sounded like she was "talking in past tense."
"If you don't mind me pointing that out, we've still got more than a month to go. The polls still aren't reflecting necessarily what you're saying," Colbert insisted.
Pelosi clarified that she meant "when people decided to run."
She said she is watching each of the midterm races in a very "cold-blooded way" to see where Democrats can win and increase their numbers.
Pelosi also lauded President Biden as a "great president" and said that she is proud of his performance.
"Working together, we've accomplished so much. And that is beginning to have some appreciation… The president has done a remarkable job, and we have been proud," she said.
The interview came after Pelosi received a barrage of criticism last week for not passing legislation banning lawmakers from trading stocks. The Washington Post editorial board criticized Pelosi and Democrats for their lack of action on the issue.
Virginia congresswoman Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a fellow Democrat, called Pelosi's inaction on the matter a "failure of House leadership."
