Nancy Pelosi to Retire From Congress After Nearly 40 Years

Nancy Pelosi Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Photo by Chip Somodevilla /Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/G

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(Bloomberg) — Nancy Pelosi, the 85-year-old California Democrat and first woman to serve as US House speaker, said she’ll retire from Congress at the end of her term.

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Pelosi led House Democrats for almost two decades, encompassing two stretches as speaker under four presidents. She announced her retirement in a video posted on social media Thursday morning.

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“We have made history. We have made progress,” she said in the video. “And now, we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.”

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Her departure leaves a vacancy in a solidly Democratic San Francisco-based seat for the first time in nearly 40 years. More broadly, Pelosi’s retirement creates a hole in national Democratic leadership, underscoring questions about the future of a party that has struggled to find a winning message in the era of President Donald Trump. 

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A fierce legislative tactician and prolific fundraiser, she was instrumental in securing signature policy achievements for Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, holding together a fractious caucus marked by tensions between progressives and centrists. This also made her a prime target for Republicans, who cast her as a villain in attack ads to motivate their voters.

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Several candidates had emerged to campaign for her seat before she announced her departure, including state senator Scott Wiener and progressive Saikat Chakrabarti. 

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“Nancy Pelosi is an iconic, legendary, transformational figure, who has done so many things over so many years to make life better for so many people,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Nov. 3.

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Among her biggest accomplishments as party leader was helping to enact Obama’s Affordable Care Act. She was also instrumental in passing the Dodd-Frank Act to put more guardrails on Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis, as well as the economic stimulus package to help banks and others recover from the ensuing recession.

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Pelosi managed her fractious caucus to pass large parts of Biden’s economic agenda, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, which created new renewable energy incentives and lowered prescription drug prices.

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Some of her most memorable moments emerged from spars with Trump. She oversaw two impeachments during his first term, and also grabbed headlines after ripping up a copy of the president’s State of the Union address while standing behind him on camera in 2020. 

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In a 2018 Oval Office meeting after Democrats won control of the House, she chided him “not to characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting.”  Video of her striding out of the White House afterward in dark sunglasses and an orange overcoat quickly became a social media meme.