“I don’t see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in conversation about,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Pelosi defends Hoyer’s comments in secret recording

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended leadership meddling in crowded Democratic primary races Thursday after audio surfaced of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer urging a progressive candidate in Colorado to drop out.

“I don’t see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in conversation about,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference. “If the realities of life is that some candidates can do better in the general than others, then that’s a clear-eyed conversation that we should be having.”


In audio obtained by The Intercept, Hoyer is heard telling liberal Democrat Levi Tillemann to drop out of the race in order to clear the field for establishment-backed Jason Crow, an Army veteran.

“I am for Crow because a judgment was made very early on. I didn’t know Crow. I didn’t participate in the decision. But a decision was made early on by the Colorado delegation,” Hoyer told Tillemann in the secretly recorded December meeting.

Crow was named to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “red to blue” program in November, an unofficial endorsement from the House campaign arm.

The effort by Hoyer (D-Md.) to push Tillemann out is just the latest evidence of an ongoing war between the Democratic establishment and progressives over the best candidates to beat Republicans in November.

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Democrats are fielding several crowded primaries across the country and leadership, including the DCCC, have sometimes tried to clear the field for whom they deem is the most electable — often a more moderate candidate — to the outrage of liberals.

Tillemann and Crow are competing in a June primary to take on GOP Rep. Mike Coffman, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans. Hillary Clinton won Coffman’s district in 2016 and his seat is seen as a must-win if Democrats want to take back the House this year.

Hoyer was recently in Miami trying to persuade a first-time candidate running in a crowded race for retiring GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s seat to drop out and run in a neighboring district where Democrats have yet to field a strong contender.

And in February the DCCC found itself in hot water after releasing opposition research on progressive Texas Democrat Laura Moser. The move may have backfired, and Moser will face off against Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, who was endorsed by EMILY’s List, in a May primary.

Hoyer’s spokeswoman, Katie Grant, defended his conversation with Tillemann in a statement to POLITICO.

“Whip Hoyer is committed to taking back the House, and that involves working with local leaders to identify and support the strongest candidate for that district,” Grant said.

Pelosi also questioned the legality of Tillemann secretly recording the meeting with Hoyer and then releasing the audio.

“I don’t know that a person can tape a person without the person’s consent and then release it to the press. That’s what I’m more concerned about,” Pelosi said.

But Colorado law doesn’t require both parties to consent to a recording.

Progressives are already fundraising off of The Intercept’s report.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee sent an email Thursday morning encouraging donors to give to Tillemann and two liberal candidates in Nebraska and Pennsylvania the group says have been targeted by the DCCC.

PCCC and Democracy for America, a progressive PAC, later called on Hoyer to resign from Democratic leadership.

“Steny Hoyer and his corporate cronies already lost,” PCCC co-founder Stephanie Taylor said in a statement. “They don’t represent the future, and it’s time for them to step aside and make room for a new generation of leadership — one that inspires and motivates the base instead of depressing it.”