Nancy Pelosi Endorses Former DNC Chair Tom Perez for Governor of Maryland

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday endorsed former Democrat National Committee (DNC) chair and Democrat primary candidate Tom Perez for governor of Maryland.

While Perez was accused of a lack of leadership during his tenure at the DNC, Pelosi has showered Perez with praise as the “most qualified person” to win the Democrat primary in Maryland.

“Maryland has an opportunity to flip from red to blue and the most qualified person to do just that is my friend Tom Perez,” Pelosi’s video endorsement said, the Washington Post first reported.

Pelosi’s endorsement could greatly benefit Perez, who is in a tough eight-person primary race with locally pugged-in candidates vying for the nomination. Perez, however, has a national presence having been the DNC chair during the Trump administration and former labor secretary in the Obama administration.

“Speaker Pelosi is a transformational leader who has spent her entire career in fierce pursuit of justice for America’s children and families,” Perez’s acceptance statement read. “I could not be more proud to receive her endorsement.”

Perez took heat throughout his DNC chairmanship for his “lack of leadership” upon Iowa’s vote-counting debacle in 2020. The Iowa vote took place on Tuesday in early February 2020 and lasted four days because of technical glitches.

“If you have the Iowa situation you don’t throw them under the bus, you stand up and you support and you try to fix it. He doesn’t lead on anything,” Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) said at the time.

Pelosi’s endorsement of Perez in the Democrat primary comes as former President Donald Trump has endorsed Maryland State Delegate Daniel Cox (R) from Fredrick, Maryland, in the GOP primary.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø.