House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California announced Tuesday she’d run for her 18th term in Congress, saying there’s more work to do “for the children” on healthcare, climate change, gun violence and the economy.
“Our Democracy is at risk because of assaults on the truth, the assault on the US capitol and the state-by-state assault on voting rights. This election is crucial. Nothing less is at stake than our Democracy,” Pelosi said.
“But as we say, we don’t agonize, we organize. And that is why I am running for re-election to Congress.”
Pelosi has represented San Francisco in Congress since 1987, and is in her second stint as speaker of the House. She first served as speaker from 2007 to 2011, and is the only woman to serve in that role. She served as Democratic minority leader from 2011 until 2018.
In 2019, she got enough votes to regain her gavel by agreeing to limit her tenure as speaker for four more years, appeasing enough House Democrats to vote for her. Her announcement Tuesday did not address whether she would seek to remain speaker.
Pelosi is working with a razor-thin majority in the House, but has been able to pass large parts of President Biden’s agenda during the 117th Congress, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and a version of the Build Back Better social spending plan.
She’s the most prolific fundraiser for House Democrats, and raised more than $1 billion dollars, including $27 million in the 2020 cycle for Democrats, since she became House Minority Whip in 2002.
