Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear Monday her feelings on the stakes of the looming November election, saying Wisconsin will play a central role in ensuring “democracy survives.”

Pelosi made the comments, which come less than two months before Wisconsinites will vote in the hotly contested presidential race, at a packed Cap Times Idea Fest event at the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall.

The first woman to become U.S. House speaker discussed her latest book, “The Art of Power,” and reflected on her time as one of America’s foremost political figures.

But she spent extensive portions of her remarks focused not on the past but rather on the state of the U.S. presidential race ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

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Despite stepping down from her position in House Democratic leadership, Pelosi’s status as the party’s pre-eminent kingmaker remains secure.

The former speaker reportedly applied pressure privately, and in carefully crafted public statements, to urge President Joe Biden to exit the presidential race in the wake of a tumultuous debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June.

Pelosi played down these efforts, even as Biden eventually stepped aside in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I think I have influence,” she said. “I don’t think I have power.”

But vanquishing Trump was vital for restoring American democracy, she said, as well as to reclaim a Republican Party that “has been hijacked.”

She recalled Trump’s baseless comments that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating pets in letting loose on the former president.

“He projects. He says ‘crazy Nancy’ — he is crazy,” she said. “He says ‘crooked Hillary’ — he’s crooked. Every adjective he uses is really about himself. So when he says people are eating cats and dogs, I’m just wondering about him.”

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Editor’s Note: This article is provided courtesy of a content partnership with The Capital Times, an independent news organization based in Madison.

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