Nancy Pelosi, first woman US House speaker, to retire
Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as the powerful Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has said she will not run for re-election to Congress in 2026, ending the four-decade career of the progressive Democratic icon often vilified by the right.
The 85-year-old congressman, first elected in 1987, made his announcement Tuesday, two days after voters in California overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50, the state’s redistricting effort that aims to flip five House seats to Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.
“I will not seek re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service,” Pelosi said in a video posted on X. he said.
California’s adoption of Proposition 50 was a response to a similar move by Texas to boost Republicans’ chances. The political strategy was spearheaded by California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, but was in Pelosi’s wheelhouse.
He has been at the forefront of the fight for control of the House of Representatives, particularly against Republican Donald Trump, who vied with him during his first presidential term from 2017-2020.
Pelosi’s retirement comes after years of younger Democrats resenting elders who maintained their positions in power and did not do enough to develop future leaders.
Nowhere was it more on display than in the summer of 2024, when 81-year-old Democratic President Joe Biden limped off a debate with Trump weeks before dropping out of the race, in part because of pressure from fellow Democrats, including Pelosi.
In a 2022 roundtable interview by Reuters, Pelosi was asked if he had any regrets about his career, including deepening resentments and divisions plaguing the House of Representatives.
He said he wished to win more elections to deny Republicans power and “make sure that a creature like Donald Trump never becomes president of the United States.”
In fact, Pelosi tried to remove Trump from power twice with House impeachment in late 2019 and early 2021, only to see Senate Republicans acquit him.
The animosity between Pelosi and Trump ran so deep that it spilled over into the president’s 2020 State of the Union address, when he refused to shake Trump’s hand when he arrived on the House floor.
He also stood up at the end of his speech and, with dramatic flair, tore a printed copy of the speech in half, later saying he did so because it contained a “lie” on every page.
In 2021, Republicans expressed outrage after Pelosi rejected recommendations from two staunch Trump defenders that Trump serve on a special committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Although Pelosi accepts partisan fighting as part of her job, the growing anger in US politics took a toll on her family in 2022 when a right-wing conspiracy theorist broke into her San Francisco home and hit her husband Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer. He later recovered.
With his departure from the national stage at the end of his 20th term in 2026, the House and Democrats across the country will lose one of their most high-profile liberals at a tumultuous time for the party.
Three years ago, Pelosi announced her retirement from Democratic leadership, which included two four-year terms as speaker from 2007-2011 and 2019-2023.
