Nancy Pelosi Announces Her Retirement From Congress

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday morning she is not running for reelection, representing a seismic shift in the Democratic party.

Pelosi, who has served in Congress since 1987 and made history as the first and only woman to serve as speaker of the House, said she would retire after this term in a video posted to her personal X account.

“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” she said at the end of a nearly six minute video. “With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”

In the video, Pelosi detailed her time in office and what she was able to accomplish for her district.

“As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power. We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way, and now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear,” she concluded.

Pelosi has long been one of the leaders of the Democratic Party, a formidable fundraiser who was widely praised inside the party for how she handled and opposed President Donald Trump during his first term.

Debates within the party over generational leadership caused Pelosi, 85, to attract two primary challengers in her district: state Sen Scott Wiener and Saikat Chakrabarti, a tech millionaire who previously served as chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Pelosi had never addressed the challenges, however, and she currently has over $1.5 million at hand, according to recent campaign finance records.

Her announcement is not unexpected. She repeatedly said she’d announce whether she was retiring after Tuesday’s elections, calling the effort to add five more House seats for Democrats in California her main priority. Voters overwhelmingly approved the state’s new congressional map on Tuesday.

She has played a crucial role for Democrats in Congress for decades — and even now the caucus turns to her for guidance. She rose through the caucus ranks in 2002 after she led the efforts against a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq. She has stayed in power, navigating the political shifts and is known to unite even the most disparate corners of her party to push through legislation.

Most recently, she was speaker during former President Joe Biden’s term when Democrats successfully passed a $1.9 trillion Covid-era budget bill and a $750 billion health care, energy and climate bill, both landmarks of Biden’s presidency. Pelosi was also instrumental in passing the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s landmark bill.

Before that, Pelosi shepherded the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was passed in 2009 and was the first piece of legislation Obama signed into law. The legislation strengthened workers’ ability to challenge pay discrimination, specifically based on gender, race, age or disability.

She made history in 2018 when she delivered what was then the longest speech on the House floor to advocate for a permanent solution for undocumented immigrants affected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It was a speech that was a little more than eight hours, which she delivered wearing four-inch-heels.

Pelosi’s family was also the target of political violence in October 2022, when a man showed up to her California home looking for her but instead attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, causing him to suffer a skull fracture that was repaired with plates and screws. Pelosi allies have since pointed to this event as one of the main reasons she announced she was stepping aside from Democratic leadership a month later.

The move made the way for Hakeem Jeffries to replace her as the top Democrat in the House. But her influence remained: She played a key role in getting Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential race.