WASHINGTON>> Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker who played a critical role in making the case privately to President Joe Biden that he should withdraw from the presidential race, on Monday formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the party’s nominee.

“Today, it is with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future that I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States,” Pelosi said in a statement. “My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for president is official, personal and political.”

Her announcement ended a period of speculation about whether Pelosi, who wields considerable influence in the Democratic Party, would seek to orchestrate a competitive primary following Biden’s departure from the race.

Pelosi recently told her colleagues in the California delegation privately that if Biden were to do so, she would favor such a process over an anointment of Harris. And she notably did not include any endorsement of the vice president in a statement she released Sunday applauding Biden for his leadership and his decision to step aside.

Her endorsement Monday came as the party was enthusiastically coalescing around Harris. But the two top Democrats in Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, still have yet to offer any endorsement of Harris.

The thinking among those top congressional leaders, according to people briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity, is that an endorsement would make Harris’ nomination look more like a coronation than an organic unification of a newly energized party.

— The New York Times