(WASHINGTON) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of her current term in Congress, starting the long goodbye as the California Democrat wraps up one of the most consequential legislative careers in U.S. history.
“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know,” Pelosi said in a video message. “I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”
Pelosi’s term in Congress ends on Jan. 3, 2027.
Pelosi, 85, was the first woman elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress.
She has represented part of the San Francisco area in the House since 1987. This is her 19th term.
“As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” Pelosi said in the video announcement.
For weeks, Pelosi had deflected questions about her political future, insisting her central focus was on ensuring that Prop 50 redistricting ballot measure passed in California. With that achievement in the rear-view mirror, Pelosi quickly made her plans clear that she will not seek another term in the House.
“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. I have truly loved serving as your voice,” Pelosi said in the video.
Pelosi’s rise
Pelosi was elected as the first woman speaker in 2007 and elected again in 2019 — the only speaker in 70 years to have won the office twice after having lost the office when Republicans regained the House majority in 2010.
She led the House Democrats for 19 years, previously having served as House Democratic whip. She rose to prominence in 2002 after whipping the majority of the party against an Iraq War resolution that her mentor, then-Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, crafted with President George W. Bush’s administration. She became minority leader when Gephardt stepped down to run for president.
“This is an historic moment,” she said in a speech after accepting the speaker’s gavel for the first time. “It’s an historic moment for the Congress. It’s an historic moment for the women of America.”
Her measured rise to power was characterized by her steady command of inside politics and her ability unite conflicting factions of Democrats in order to achieve legislative success.
Journalist Susan Page, the author of a biography about the House speaker, called Pelosi a “master of the inside game of politics and of being a legislative leader” in an April 2021 interview with ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast.
Page revealed in her book that Pelosi originally planned to step down after the 2016 election but changed her mind after President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.
In 2019, Pelosi led the investigation that resulted in the third presidential impeachment in history following what the impeachment charges said were Trump’s alleged moves to solicit foreign intervention in the 2020 presidential election and withhold congressionally appropriated assistance to Ukraine.
Pelosi headed Trump’s second impeachment in 2021 after his supporters mounted a violent insurrection against the U.S. Capitol following the 2020 presidential election that Trump sought to overturn. She then led the House in creating a bipartisan select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack.
“I have enjoyed working with three presidents achieving historic investments in clean energy with President George Bush, transformed health care reform with President Barack Obama and forging the future from infrastructure to health care to climate action with President Joe Biden,” Pelosi said in a speech bidding farewell to the speakership in December 2022, notably leaving Trump off the list.
Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26, 1940 to an Italian-American family. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., was a Democratic politician who represented Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District in the House and later served as mayor of Baltimore. Her mother, Annunciata M. “Nancy” D’Alesandro, was also involved in Democratic politics as an organizer.
She met Paul Pelosi at Georgetown University in 1961. The couple married in 1963 and had five children. Pelosi raised their children in San Francisco and started a Democratic Party club at her home, until she began working for the presidential campaign of California Gov. Jerry Brown in 1976, when she was 36.
By 1981, she was the Democratic Party chair for the state of California.
In 1987, Pelosi won a special election for California’s then-5th Congressional District which encompassed most of the city of San Francisco. Pelosi advanced through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2002. She was elevated to House minority leader the following year, becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress.
In October 2022, Paul Pelosi was the victim of an attack at the couple’s San Francisco home. The assailant, later told authorities the attack was intended for Nancy Pelosi, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
Following the loss of a Democratic majority in the House in November 2022, Pelosi said she would be giving up the gavel for the last time.
“History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history,” Biden said in a statement at the time.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
