Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi intentionally did not vote Friday on a bill honoring the life of assassinated right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk.
Pelosi was on the floor during the vote, and records show she voted on other bills just before the introduction of House Resolution 719, which referred to Kirk as a “patriot” who “personified the values of the First Amendment.”
The measure passed on a 310-58 bipartisan vote, with Democrats voting against it.
Pelosi immediately issued a statement calling Kirk’s Sept. 10 shooting at Utah Valley University “reprehensible” and called on Americans to pray for his recovery, before his death was announced. Though her office did not comment on why she intentionally skipped voting on HR 719, it’s well known that Pelosi did not have a friendly relationship with the Turning Point USA founder.
After a right-wing conspiracy theorist broke into her Pacific Heights home in October 2022 and bludgeoned her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, Kirk called for a “patriot” to bail out the assailant.
“Why is he still in jail? Why has he not been bailed out?” Kirk reportedly said. “By the way, if some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out. … Bail him out and then go ask him some questions.”
When asked why she declined to vote on the bill honoring Kirk, Pelosi in a statement condemned the “horrific assassination” and said Congress is praying for Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their two young children.
“My own family still lives with the trauma of a near-deadly attack on my husband, Paul, in our home by an individual seeking to kidnap me, an act of violence that underscored in the most personal way the escalating threats that public officials and their loved ones endure,” she said.
Kirk’s killing has set off a wave of political controversy and incited a fierce debate over free speech and how to celebrate the life of a man who himself made many incendiary statements.
President Donald Trump and the GOP have threatened to go after left-wing figures and organizations they argue are promoting violence against conservatives.
Trump most recently celebrated the indefinite suspension of late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel for comments he made about right-wing reactions to Kirk’s assassination.
Critics call it a dangerous abuse of the First Amendment and a clear move by Trump toward authoritarianism.
Ten minutes before the vote honoring Kirk, the House approved a continuing resolution on a short-term spending bill to finance the government through Nov. 21, which Democrats have criticized as a plan to gut Medicaid funding.
The nonpartisan California Budget & Policy Center this year found that proposed cuts to Medicaid could deprive 8 million Californians of health coverage.
Pelosi joined a majority of Democrats in voting against it.