Representative Nancy Pelosi calls for her resignation.
The California Democrat announced Thursday that she will not seek re-election to another term, closing the book on a four-decade career in which she rewrote history as the nation’s first female president, introduced some of the most consequential legislation of modern times, and earned her place among the most powerful — if polarizing — lawmakers to ever serve in Congress.
In a Video posted on social mediaPelosi described her love for San Francisco, saying that of all the titles she has held, “there has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say that I speak for the people of San Francisco.”
She added: “I will not seek re-election to Congress. It is with a grateful heart that I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.” “As we move forward, my message to the city I love is: San Francisco, know your power. We made history, we made progress, and we were always ahead. Now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.”
While Pelosi, 85, had already resigned from her leadership seat at the beginning of 2023, she also made the decision — highly unusual for a senior congressional leader — to remain on Capitol Hill in a lesser role.
For Democrats, the move eased the transition from Pelosi and her top representatives, who have led the party for 20 years, to the younger group of party leaders she helped nurture, led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
In this new capacity, Pelosi has been able to remain an influential adviser and fundraiser for the party while tempering her famously hectic schedule as she enters her mid-80s. (As president, she said she gets four hours of sleep a night; as minority leader, she allows herself five.)
Her outsized influence was quite evident during last year’s presidential contest, when Pelosi was also in attendance Helpful in payment Then-President Biden was left off the list after a disastrous debate that raised widespread concerns about Biden’s chances of defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box — and his ability to lead the country for another four years, if he wins.
More recently, Pelosi played a huge role in securing it Success of Proposition 50Redistricting efforts in California aim to flip Republican seats to Democrats in next year’s midterm elections. That referendum passed easily on Tuesday — a direct response to Trump’s campaign to redraw House maps across a number of GOP-led states — paving the way for Pelosi’s announcement of her future.
Even before Pelosi announced her plans publicly, Democratic leaders in the Capitol were praising her as a historic figure whose influence will reverberate long after she is gone.
“Nancy Pelosi is an iconic, legendary, transformational person who has done so many things over so many years to make life better for so many people,” Jeffries told reporters Monday.
Pelosi was a relatively late arrival to Capitol Hill, winning her first congressional race — a special election in 1987 — when she was 47 and already raising five children. But she was no political novice, having spent years on the front lines of Democratic politics in California, including a seat on the Democratic National Committee and later as chair of the California Democratic Party.
In those roles, Pelosi honed her mastery of communication and learned the real-world value of political fundraising — two lessons that served her well when she arrived on Capitol Hill.
Pelosi also sat on two powerful committees, the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, where she rose to prominence amid high-profile clashes with the George W. Bush administration. As a ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, for example, she challenged Bush’s claims that Iraq possessed powerful weapons that posed a threat to American interests. She still describes her vote against the Iraq war as a moment of moral clarity.
In 2003, Pelosi jumped to the top leadership position in the House Democratic Caucus, replacing Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri), who stepped down to enter the 2004 presidential race.
Three years later, Pelosi led Democrats to a House majority for the first time since Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) captured the chamber for Republicans in 1994. In the process, Pelosi shattered the glass ceiling as the first woman ever to become Speaker of the House — a feat she repeated in 2019.
With this in mind, Pelosi has introduced some of the most important legislation of the past half-century. Under former President Obama, that list included the sweeping Wall Street reforms that followed the Great Recession and the Affordable Care Act — Obama’s signature domestic achievement that owed much of its success to Pelosi’s ability to extract votes from wavering centrist Democrats. She still considers it her greatest accomplishment at the Capitol.
Republicans returned to power in the 2010 wave. But after eight more years as minority leader, Pelosi was back in office in 2021, when Biden took office amid the COVID-19 crisis. In this second bill, I helped enact a massive pandemic relief bill, followed by massive infrastructure and climate packages.
Between these two Democratic administrations, Pelosi famously clashed with President Trump, a political enemy I called recently “The worst thing on earth.”
Pelosi led two impeachments of Trump in his first term; Established the Select Committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump supporters; He was assured that the House of Representatives will reconvene after the frenzy to certify the results of the 2020 presidential elections.
Pelosi’s record has secured her place in the history books, but not all reviews have been positive. For years, Republicans have attacked the Democratic leader as a wealthy San Francisco liberal who was out of touch with most Americans. In this mold, GOP campaign operatives spent millions of dollars seeking to make Pelosi the face of Democrats overall — a strategy that proved effective, at times, and frustrated centrist Democrats who longed for a more moderate leader.
Pelosi’s 20-year tenure leading Democrats — the longest in either party since the death of the legendary Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) in office in 1961 — was also a source of internal strife, because it created a leadership bottleneck that prevented young Democrats from rising through the ranks. Pelosi has several times faced challenges to her leadership; Every time she overcame them easily.
Pelosi’s fame has also affected her family. In late 2022, a man broke into her San Francisco home and beat her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Police said she was the intended target.
Weeks later, Pelosi will step down from her leadership position. Republicans had flipped control of the chamber that year, but Pelosi indicated that the motivation behind her decision had more to do with the attack on her family.
In her speech announcing the decision, Pelosi urged both sides to put aside their differences and work together. She said that the American experience depends on this.
“American democracy is majestic — but fragile,” Pelosi said. “Many of us here have witnessed the fragility of democracy firsthand – and tragically, in this room. Democracy must therefore be forever defended against the forces that wish to harm it.”