{"id":30992,"date":"2025-11-06T18:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/30992\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T18:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:24:13","slug":"ex-house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-85-to-retire-from-congress-after-nearly-40-year-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/30992\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, to retire from Congress after nearly 40-year career"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will retire<\/a> at the end of her current term, ending a four-decade career in the lower chamber during which she emerged as a Democratic power player and became the first woman to wield the speaker\u2019s gavel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking re-election to Congress [next year],\u201d Pelosi, 85, said in a video message to her constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,\u201d she continued. \u201cAs we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power. We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy Pelosi will not be running for re-election.<\/p>\n

Pelosi will be ending her nearly 40-year career in Congress.<\/p>\n

Reports had circulated earlier this week that the Golden State Democrat was planning to announce her future plans following Tuesday\u2019s off-year elections.<\/p>\n

Pelosi led the House Democratic conference for 20 years until 2023, serving as speaker between 2007 and 2011, as well as between 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Had she vied for a 20th term representing the deep-blue 11th Congressional District, Pelosi would have faced a difficult fight against\u00a0Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff to \u201cSquad\u201d Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pelosi meeting President John F. Kennedy after his inauguration in 1961. The White House<\/p>\n

Pelosi celebrating her election victory in San Francisco on June 2, 1987. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pelosi in a 1987 photo. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Throughout her tenure, Pelosi had been at the forefront of the biggest political battles, helping Democrats wrangle the Affordable Care Act through Congress, serving as President Trump\u2019s chief adversary in his first term, and pulling strings behind the scenes during the party revolt against former President Joe Biden last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the Democratic struggle over Obamacare, Pelosi pushed the 44th president\u2019s administration to seek one massive package of legislation rather than a series of piecemeal\u00a0bills.<\/p>\n

She also stoked controversy over the hidden nature of the legislative process for passing the mega-healthcare bill, declaring, \u201cWe have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelosi at an Oval Office event with President George H.W. Bush and other legislators. AP Photo\/Charles Tasnadi<\/p>\n

Pelosi with Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and President Clinton in the White House on May 28, 1993. Getty Images<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama greeting Pelosi at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 2, 2012. REUTERS<\/p>\n

When the dust settled and Obamacare got through both chambers of Congress, Pelosi called it the \u201chighlight\u201d of her career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Years later, Pelosi developed an acrimonious relationship with Trump, tearing up his 2020 State of the Union address in a stunning moment caught on camera for the entire country to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a vile creature, the worst thing on the face of the earth,\u201d Pelosi told CNN this week, later agreeing with the interviewer\u2019s language that the president is \u201cthe worst thing on the face of the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump responded in kind Thursday to news that Pelosi was leaving Congress, calling her \u201cevil,\u201d \u201ccorrupt,\u201d and \u201conly focused on bad things for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even after Pelosi stepped down as the top House Democrat, she remained massively influential within the caucus.\u00a0Fearing Trump\u2019s return to the White House,\u00a0Pelosi proved to be a major force behind the scenes during the Democratic revolt against Biden following his disastrous\u00a0debate in late June of last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pelosi greeting President Trump at his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Pelosi clapping at Trump during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5, 2019. AP<\/p>\n

Pelosi ripping up a copy of Trump\u2019s 2020 State of the Union speech. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Two days after Biden penned a letter to congressional Democrats saying he was \u201cfirmly committed\u201d to the contest, Pelosi went on the 46th president\u2019s favorite show, MSNBC\u2019s \u201cMorning Joe,\u201d and suggested he should change his position.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,\u201d she pointedly said, later adding: \u201cWe\u2019re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. It\u2019s not for me to say, I\u2019m not the head of the caucus anymore, but he\u2019s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Biden\u2019s withdrawal from the race,\u00a0she\u00a0told The Guardian that she had \u201cdecided a while ago that Donald Trump will never set foot in the White House again, as president of the United States or in any other capacity\u201d and implied that she was ruthlessly working to ensure Trump wouldn\u2019t win that election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pelosi also told the outlet that her message to Biden was, \u201cLet\u2019s get on a better course.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biden himself publicly complained to reporters about her machinations, while former first lady Jill Biden\u00a0admitted she found Pelosi\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0actions to be \u201cdisappointing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two\u00a0Catholic Democrats had been good friends for decades, but Biden stopped talking to her for months after the mutiny against him, Pelosi revealed. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear whether they have spoken since.<\/p>\n

Pelosi presides over the House of Representatives during President Trump\u2019s impeachment trial on Dec. 18, 2019. REUTERS<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2022, Pelosi\u2019s husband, Paul, was bludgeoned with a hammer after an\u00a0assailant broke into the couple\u2019s San Francisco home. <\/p>\n

The attacker,\u00a0conspiracy theorist\u00a0David DePape, was later arrested and has since been\u00a0sentenced to life in prison<\/a>\u00a0without parole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0DePape had brought\u00a0zip ties, rope, and duct tape with him and was searching for the then-House speaker, who was in\u00a0Washington with her protective detail at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now that Pelosi is retiring, speculation is mounting that her daughter,\u00a0Christine, could emerge as her successor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christine cofounded\u00a0We Said Enough, a nonprofit aimed at stopping sexual harassment in the workplace. The younger Pelosi has long been coy about whether she would try to succeed her mother in Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other potential successors include\u00a0Chakrabarti and California state Sen. Scott Wiener, who jumped into the race late last month.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, \u2018I speak for the people of San Francisco,’\u201d she said. \u201cSan Francisco 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. Thank you, San Francisco, for trusting me to be your congresswoman.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will retire at the end of her current term, ending a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[858,13289,9,11,10,87,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-30992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-nancy-pelosi","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}