- Pelosi beat Rep. Steny Hoyer in whip contest before they served in leadership for decades.
- Pelosi has been a prolific fundraiser, collecting $1.25 billion for Democrats during last 20 years.
- Potential successors include Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Adam Schiff of California.
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she will step down from her leadership role, ending a 20-year reign leading House Democrats with an iron grip and breaking barriers as the first woman speaker.
Her announcement on the House floor came a day after Republicans claimed a majority in the House in the next congressional term.
“The House will be in order,” said Pelosi, wearing a white pant suit and her signature Mace of the Republic broche, after walking on to the House floor and getting a round of applause from her colleagues. She later walked to the well of the floor and began speaking
Her decision comes after her party was able to halt an expected Republican wave in the House though Republicans will still have a majority, albeit much narrower than forecasted. Her announcement also comes weeks after a brutal attack on her husband, Paul, last month in their San Francisco home.
The speaker “has been overwhelmed by calls from colleagues, friends and supporters,” Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted late Wednesday, noting that she had spent Wednesday evening monitoring election returns in the final states where ballots were still being counted.
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Pelosi to step down as House Democratic leader
Pelosi said Thursday afternoon she will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress.
“For me, the hours come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,” she said.
Pelosi said regardless of her title, she will continue to stand on the floor and speak for the people of San Francisco.
“This I will continue to do as a member of the House,” she said.
– Rachel Looker
Pelosi warns of threats to democracy in address
In her address to the House, Pelosi praised American democracy as “majestic,” while warning of its fragility.
“Democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm,” she said.
Calling the Capitol, a “temple of our democracy,” Pelosi said the public has already stood against threats from extremists, a reference to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
“Last week, the American people spoke,” she said, referring to the midterm election outcomes.
— Savannah Kuchar
Pelosi enters chamber to applause
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi entered the House chamber Thursday at noon to multiple rounds of applause by lawmakers.
Pelosi, who was smiling as she presided over the chamber, was interrupted multiple times as she gaveled the chamber to order.
– Rachel Looker
Pelosi to address colleagues starting at noon
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will open proceedings in the House at noon today, before making remarks to her colleagues around 12:10 p.m., an aide said Thursday.
The 82-year-old has led the Democrats in the House of Representatives for two decades, rising to the rank of Speaker in 2007. When the Democrats lost the House in 2010, she became House Minority Leader. She became speaker again in 2019, a rare feat for a politician.
Observers are anxiously awaiting the announcement on her future plans now that the Republican Party has won control of the House for the session that starts in January.
– Erin Mansfield
Democratic leadership in the House
The impending departure of Pelosi, the first woman to hold a party leadership role or the speaker’s post, sets up a potential generational change in Democratic leadership in the aftermath of losing the majority to Republicans for the 118th Congress that begins in January.
Pelosi mostly managed to keep House Democrats united on major pieces of legislation throughout her tenure, reconciling differences between progressives and moderates to pass landmark legislation, including President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure plan last year and the Affordable Care Act under former President Barack Obama.
Rank-and-file lawmakers in recent years clamored for new faces in leadership. Although titles change depending which party is in power, the hierarchy of House Democratic leadership has been the same for nearly two decades. Pelosi, 82, has been backed up by Reps. Steny Hoyer, 83, of Maryland, and James Clyburn, 82, of South Carolina.
Besides those two, one potential successor includes Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, 52, of New York, who ranks fifth in leadership as chairman of the Democratic Caucus. Rep. Adam Schiff, 62, of California, who led the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump as head of the Intelligence Committee, is another possibility, though Politico reported Wednesday that he would not seek the post.
Pelosi spent decades as a Republican target, blasted as a “San Francisco liberal.” When rioters supporting Trump rampaged through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they called out “Where’s Nancy?”
The man charged with attacking her husband Oct. 28 asked the same question.
– Associated Press
Pelosi broke ground for women
Pelosi was a trailblazer for women in politics. She became first woman to ascend to House leadership as Democratic whip in 2001, the first to lead a party in Congress two years later and the first to become speaker four years later. While Pelosi was in the House, recruiting and fundraising for candidates, the number of women serving in the chamber grew from 23 in 1987 to 127 this year, including non-voting delegates.
Hillary Clinton told USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, who wrote the book “Madam Speaker,” that Pelosi was “one of the very best inside political players that I’ve ever seen.”
Pelosi is stepping down weeks after her husband’s skull was fractured by a hammer-wielding assailant in their home last month. Paul Pelosi left the hospital after a week, but she said “a long recovery process and convalescence” is expected.
Pelosi, a prolific fundraiser, rose through the ranks
Pelosi learned politics from her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., a former House member and three-term mayor of Baltimore. She won her House seat in a special election in June 1987.
Pelosi rose through the leadership ranks with prolific fundraising. She raised $1.25 billion for Democrats during the last 20 years, according to a party tally reported by the New York Times.
She became minority whip in 2001, beating Hoyer in a caucus election, and became the minority leader two years later.
Pelosi became the first woman speaker in 2007, when Democrats won control of the chamber for four years. Republicans then led the House for eight years before she returned for another four years as speaker in 2019.
