Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is predicting that a longtime Democratic Party powerbroker will announce a surprise campaign for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028.
Pelosi believes that Rahm Emanuel, who previously served as former President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff and mayor of Chicago, will be jumping in the race. “I think he’s going to run,” the former House speaker told The Free Press in an interview published Friday.
Emanuel, who most recently served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan during the Biden presidency, has already dropped hints. When asked how he was doing in the same Free Press article, Emanuel quipped, “I don’t have prostate cancer.”
The remark comes after Emanuel’s brother, Zeke, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that former President Joe Biden “likely” had prostate cancer while he was serving in the White House. “Oh yeah. He did not develop [prostate cancer] in the last 100 days, 200 days. He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. Yes, I don’t think there’s any disagreement about that,” he said.
Rahm Emanuel’s blunt quip about the growing scandal surrounding Biden’s cancer diagnosis has been seen by some political experts and lawmakers, including Pelosi, as an attempt to position himself as a trustworthy voice as Democratic Party approval ratings sit around record lows.
“We can’t get distracted by the cultural issues and lose sight of what Americans care about and what impacts them, which is a shot at the American dream,” he said. “We have to be able to stand up to the interest groups. We can’t look weak and woke.”
When asked directly about rumors surrounding a White House bid, Emanuel refused to confirm nor deny. “Before I make a decision, I want to know that I have an answer to what I think ails our country, ails our politics, and ails the party—and they may all be the same answer,” he said.
Free Press reporter Peter Savodnik left a two-hour lunch meeting with the former Obama ally feeling like he has already decided, however. “I know what I want to do,” he said. “We’ve got to get ready to fight for America—and that’s what I’m going to do.”
If Emanuel opts not to run for president, he could seek to fill the soon-to-open U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has suggested that he may seek the Republican nomination in the deep blue state, though Blagojevich has cautioned that he will need to discuss the matter with his family before deciding.
