Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the 85-year-old speaker emerita and San Francisco’s member of Congress since 1987, today announced that she will not run for a 21st term.
This comes after months of speculation, the entry of two viable Democratic opponents into the race and Pelosi’s steadfast refusal to disclose her plans until after Tuesday’s special election for Prop. 50.
Prop. 50, which will redistrict California into more Democratic-friendly districts in response to Texas midterm redistricting, passed overwhelmingly — a coda to Pelosi’s career. At 6 a.m., she released a six-minute video on her social media channel highlighting the greatness of San Francisco and her time serving it — and making it official that time was drawing to a close.
“I say to my colleagues in the House all the time, no matter what title they have bestowed upon me — Speaker, Leader, Whip — there has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say ‘I speak for the people of San Francisco,’” Pelosi says in the video.
“I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress. … I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know, I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”
Pelosi’s departure sets in motion what will likely be one of the most-watched and consequential congressional races of 2026. While she easily bested junior varsity challengers throughout most of her long tenure, the 2026 race is already crowded with varsity-level candidates — and it may grow more so.
Saikat Chakrabarti was the first to throw his hat into the ring, kicking off his campaign last month. The former campaign manager and chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez amassed a nine-digit fortune as a tech executive. He told a Mission District crowd at his kickoff that the nation was undergoing a “fascist coup,” and a return to the pre-Trump status quo would not be enough. Democrats, Chakrabarti said, should reshape the economy that “made Donald Trump possible” in a radical way.
Spurred by the entry of the centi-millionaire Chakrabarti, Sen. Scott Wiener, a longtime aspirant to Pelosi’s seat who had previously deferred to the speaker emerita, jolted the political firmament last month by declaring he was running — even before the speaker emerita had made her plans clear.
“You can always say, ‘wait a little longer.’ That becomes a problem,” Wiener told Mission Local. “You have to make a choice. You can always criticize or second-guess. People have told me I made a mistake not getting in three months ago. It’s never the right time, or it’s always the right time.”
Pelosi’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, has long been seen as a potential successor. And the speaker emerita’s exit also opens up a potential lane for District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan to run for national office. The Chinese American chair of the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee would run with strong labor backing and offer a third way to left-leaning city voters put off by the moderate stalwart Wiener and the brash newcomer Chakrabarti — who has actually donated against local progressive candidates in the past. Her housing positions also might be more palatable for conservative voters than those of Wiener, the Godfather of the YIMBYs.
“San Francisco,” Nancy Pelosi concludes in her video announcement, “is the greatest city on earth with the most extraordinary people on earth — and a place that I will always believe is heaven on earth.”