WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she would step down from her historic run as leader of the Democratic Party but will continue to represent San Francisco in Congress.
Her announcement came in the wake of Democrats narrowly losing control of the House to Republicans in the midterm elections.
“I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said. “For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect.”
Pelosi’s decision to either seek another term as the Democratic leader or to step aside has been widely anticipated. Her speech was interrupted several times as she stood among her colleagues in what she termed “the people’s house.”
“Now we most move boldly into the future,” Pelosi said.
The 82-year-old Pelosi recapped her career, from seeing the Capitol the first time as a young girl with her father, a former congressman and mayor.
“I believe then as I believe today its (the Capitol) is the most beautiful building in the world for what it stands for,” Pelosi said. “The Capitol is a temple of our democracy, of our Constitution, of our highest ideals.”
She told her colleagues she never dreamed of going from “homemaker to House Speaker.” Noticeably absent was Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy.
“When I first came to the floor at six years old, never would I have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House Speaker,” she said.
Read full transcript of Pelosi’s Speech
The announcement came after her party was able to halt an expected Republican wave in the House and the Senate but also in the aftermath of a brutal attack on her husband, Paul, late last month by an intruder in their San Francisco home.
When she spoke of the presidents she worked with Pelosi did not mention former President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden called her “the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in history.”
“When I think of Nancy Pelosi, I think of dignity,” President Biden said in a statement. “History will note her as the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in history – she is first, last, and always for the people. America owes her a debt of gratitude for her service, patriotism, and dignity. ”
The speaker “has been overwhelmed by calls from colleagues, friends and supporters,” Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill said, and noted that she had spent Wednesday evening monitoring election returns in the final states where ballots were still being counted.
The Bay Area Democrat, who rose to become the nation’s first woman to wield the speaker’s gavel, is a pivotal figure in U.S. politics.
By announcing her decision, Pelosi launched a domino effect in House Democratic leadership ahead of internal party elections next month as Democrats reorganize for their new role as the minority party in the new Congress.
Pelosi’s leadership team, with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, has long moved as a triumvirate. Hoyer and Clyburn are also making decisions about their futures.
All now in their 80s, the three House Democratic leaders have faced restless colleagues eager for them to step aside and allow a new generation to take charge.
Democrats Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, and Rep. Pete Aguilar of California have similarly moved as a trio at times, all working toward leadership roles themselves.
First elected to the House in 1987, Pelosi has long been ridiculed by Republicans as a San Francisco liberal while steadily rising as a skilled legislator and fundraising powerhouse. Her own Democratic colleagues have intermittently appreciated but also feared Pelosi’s powerful brand of leadership.
In a statement Thursday, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein lauded her fellow San Franciscan and said she was looking forward to continuing to work with Pelosi both in Congress and back home.
“Speaker Pelosi’s decision to step aside as House Democratic leader is personally very difficult for me because she has done so much good for the country and for the progress of women,” said Feinstein. “She has been an amazing Speaker and her leadership will be greatly missed, especially in our shared home of San Francisco.”
California’s other Democratic Senator Alex Padilla thanked Pelosi for her spearheading landmark legislation.
“Speaker Pelosi has put Californians and the American people at the heart of her service,” Sen. Padilla said in a prepared statement. “Since her election to Congress in 1987, she has spearheaded landmark legislation that fundamentally improved the quality of life for all Americans, and Californians will never forget the historic progress she delivered for our state.”
First elected in 1987, Pelosi has been a pivotal figure in American politics, long ridiculed by Republicans as a San Francisco liberal while steadily rising as a skilled legislator and fundraising powerhouse. Her own Democratic colleagues have intermittently appreciated but also feared her powerful brand of leadership.
Pelosi first became speaker in 2007, saying she had cracked the “marble ceiling,” after Democrats swept to power in the 2006 midterm elections in a backlash to then-President George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When she was poised in 2018 to return as speaker, in the Trump era, she vowed “to show the power of the gavel.”
Pelosi has repeatedly withstood leadership challenges over the years and suggested in 2018 she would serve four more years as leader. But she had not discussed those plans more recently.
Typically unsentimental, Pelosi let show a rare moment of emotion on the eve of the midterm elections as she held back tears discussing the grave assault on her husband of nearly 60 years.
Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull after an intruder broke into their home in the middle of the night seeking the Democratic leader. The intruder’s question — “Where is Nancy?” — echoed the chants of the pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as they hunted for Pelosi and tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
David DePape is being held without bail on attempted murder and other charges in what authorities said was a political attack. Police said DePape broke in and woke up Paul Pelosi, and the two struggled over a hammer before DePape struck the 82-year-old on the head. DePape, 42, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempting to kidnap a federal official and assaulting a federal official’s family member.
Paul Pelosi was hospitalized for a week but is expected to recover, though his wife has said it will be a long haul.
