House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi endorses Clinton as California primary voting begins

Reporting from  WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi endorsed Hillary Clinton on Tuesday ahead of voting in the California primary, the first female former House speaker backing the first female presidential nominee of a major party.

“It’s fabulous that we would have a woman president, and I believe she will walk into that Oval Office one of the best prepared people to do so in our country’s history,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“However, it’s because she is the best, not because she’s a woman. However, having said that -- pretty exciting,” said Pelosi, now House minority leader.

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The San Francisco Democrat had withheld her endorsement as the party’s long primary battle played out, saying voters should decide the outcome. She said Tuesday that she believed Clinton rival Bernie Sanders would play a “constructive” role moving forward.

“The matter should be determined by the voters in the state,” said Pelosi, who is also a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention.

“Bernie knows better than anyone what’s on the line in the election and that we at some point have to unify as we go forward. He wants to influence the platform,” she said. “He’ll go forward in a way that will be constructive to the party.”

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UPDATES:

6:32 a.m.: Updated with staff reporting

This article was originally posted at 5:16 a.m.