Nancy Pelosi announced that she will not seek re-election, ending her career in the US House of Representatives

Washington (AFP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not seek re-election to the US House of Representatives, ending her career as not only the first woman in the Speaker’s office, but arguably the most powerful in American politics.

Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, announced her decision on Thursday.

“I will not seek re-election to Congress,” Pelosi said in a video address to voters.

Pelosi, who appeared optimistic and forward-looking as photos of her decades-long accomplishments filled the frames, said she would finish her final year in office. It left those who sent it to Congress with a call to action to continue the agenda-setting legacy in the United States and around the world.

“My message to the city I love is: San Francisco, know your strength,” she said. “We have made history. We have made progress. We have always been one step ahead.”

He watches: Pelosi discusses her book ‘The Art of Power’ and expresses confidence in Harris’ chances

“And now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear,” Pelosi said.

Although this decision was not entirely unexpected, it has reverberated in Washington and California, with a seasoned generation of political leaders stepping down before next year’s midterm elections. Some are leaving reluctantly, others with determination, but many face challenges from newcomers eager to lead the Democratic Party and confront President Donald Trump.

Pelosi remains a political force and played a pivotal role in California’s redistricting efforts, Proposition 50, and the party’s comeback in this month’s election. She maintains an aggressive schedule of public events and fundraising for the party, and her announced departure reignites a succession battle back home and leaves open questions about who will fill her leadership role behind the scenes at the Capitol.

He watches: A photo of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been unveiled at the Capitol as her historic term nears the end

Pelosi, the architect of the Affordable Care Act and a leader on the international stage, entered politics later in life and is the mother of five children, most of whom are adults. She has long fended off calls for her to step down by turning questions about her intentions into spirited responses, and wondered whether the same was being asked of her male colleagues on Capitol Hill.

In her video speech, she noted that the slogan of her first campaign was “A voice to be heard.”

With this support, she became a spokesperson “whose voice will definitely be heard,” she said.

But after Pelosi quietly helped orchestrate Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, she decided to pass the torch as well.

He watches: Pelosi steps down from leadership of the Democratic Party after Republicans won control of the House of Representatives

Last year, she suffered a fall that left her with a broken hip during a quick congressional visit to allies in Europe, but even that showed her resolve: it was revealed she had been taken to a military hospital for surgery – after the group photo, in which she was seen smiling, putting on her high-heeled shoes.

Pelosi’s decision also comes as her husband of more than six decades, Paul Pelosi, was seriously injured three years ago when an intruder demanded to know, “Where’s Nancy?” They broke into the couple’s home and hit him on the head with a hammer. He is still recovering from the attack days before the 2022 midterm elections.

Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Pelosi faces a potential primary challenge in California. Leftist newcomer Saikat Chakrabarty, who helped engineer the political rise of progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, has mounted a campaign, and state Sen. Scott Wiener is also said to be considering a run.

While Pelosi remains an unparalleled force for the Democratic Party, having raised more than $1 billion during her career, her next steps are uncertain. She was first elected in 1987 after a career in party politics in California, spending nearly four decades in public office.

Lady Speaker takes the gavel

Pelosi’s legacy as Speaker of the House comes not only because she was the first woman to hold that office, but also because of what she did with the gavel, wielding the enormous powers that come with the suite of offices overlooking the National Mall.

During her first term, from 2007 to 2011, she led the House of Representatives to pass landmark legislation into law — the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank financial reforms in the wake of the Great Recession and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy against LGBT military service members.

With President Barack Obama in the White House and Democratic Senator Harry Reid of Nevada leading the Senate, the 2009-2010 congressional sessions ended among the most productive since the Johnson era.

But the conservative Republican “Tea Party” revolution ousted Democrats from power, giving rise to a new type of Republican, who would pave the way for Trump to seize the White House in 2016.

Determined to regain control, Pelosi helped recruit and push dozens of women into office in the 2018 midterm elections as Democrats vie as resistance to Trump’s first term.

On the campaign trail that year, Pelosi told the Associated Press that if Democrats won the House, she would demonstrate “the power of the sledgehammer.”

Pelosi returns to the Speaker’s office to check on Trump

Pelosi became the first speaker to regain office in nearly 50 years, and her second term, from 2019 to 2023, will likely become more important than her first, particularly as the Democratic Party’s antidote to Trump.

Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives — twice — first in 2019 for withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine while it faced a hostile Russia on its border, and then in 2021 days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Senate acquitted him in both cases.

Pelosi stood before the special committee on Jan. 6 to investigate Trump’s role in sending a mob of his supporters to the Capitol, when most Republicans had refused to investigate, and released a 1,000-page report that became the first full accounting of what happened as the defeated president tried to stay in office.

After Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, Pelosi announced that she would not seek another term as party leader.

Instead of retiring, she charted a new course for leaders, earning an honorary title that would be used by others, including Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California during his short term after his colleagues ousted him from the House Speaker’s office in 2023.