“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking re-election to Congress [next year],” Pelosi, 85, said in a video message to her constituents.
“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” she continued. “As 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.”
Reports had circulated earlier this week that the Golden State Democrat was planning to announce her future plans following Tuesday’s off-year elections.
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.
Had she vied for a 20th term representing the deep-blue 11th Congressional District, Pelosi would have faced a difficult fight against Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff to “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
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’s chief adversary in his first term, and pulling strings behind the scenes during the party revolt against former President Joe Biden last year.
During the Democratic struggle over Obamacare, Pelosi pushed the 44th president’s administration to seek one massive package of legislation rather than a series of piecemeal bills.
She also stoked controversy over the hidden nature of the legislative process for passing the mega-healthcare bill, declaring, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
When the dust settled and Obamacare got through both chambers of Congress, Pelosi called it the “highlight” of her career.
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.
“He’s just a vile creature, the worst thing on the face of the earth,” Pelosi told CNN this week, later agreeing with the interviewer’s language that the president is “the worst thing on the face of the Earth.”
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Trump responded in kind Thursday to news that Pelosi was leaving Congress, calling her “evil,” “corrupt,” and “only focused on bad things for our country.”
Even after Pelosi stepped down as the top House Democrat, she remained massively influential within the caucus. Fearing Trump’s return to the White House, Pelosi proved to be a major force behind the scenes during the Democratic revolt against Biden following his disastrous debate in late June of last year.
Two days after Biden penned a letter to congressional Democrats saying he was “firmly committed” to the contest, Pelosi went on the 46th president’s favorite show, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and suggested he should change his position.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” she pointedly said, later adding: “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. It’s not for me to say, I’m not the head of the caucus anymore, but he’s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.”
Following Biden’s withdrawal from the race, she told The Guardian that she had “decided 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” and implied that she was ruthlessly working to ensure Trump wouldn’t win that election.
Pelosi also told the outlet that her message to Biden was, “Let’s get on a better course.”
Biden himself publicly complained to reporters about her machinations, while former first lady Jill Biden admitted she found Pelosi’s actions to be “disappointing.”
The two Catholic Democrats had been good friends for decades, but Biden stopped talking to her for months after the mutiny against him, Pelosi revealed.
It’s not clear whether they have spoken since.
In the fall of 2022, Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was bludgeoned with a hammer after an assailant broke into the couple’s San Francisco home.
The attacker, conspiracy theorist David DePape, was later arrested and has since been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
DePape had brought zip ties, rope, and duct tape with him and was searching for the then-House speaker, who was in Washington with her protective detail at the time.
Now that Pelosi is retiring, speculation is mounting that her daughter, Christine, could emerge as her successor.
Christine cofounded We 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.
Other potential successors include Chakrabarti and California state Sen. Scott Wiener, who jumped into the race late last month.
“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,’” she said. “San 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.”
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