Nancy Pelosi Will Retire in 2027
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who made history as the nation’s first and only female House Speaker, announced on Thursday that she won’t seek reelection and will step down from Congress after her term ends in early 2027. By the time she leaves Capitol Hill, she will have served for 39 years — leading congressional Democrats for two decades, including the eight years she spent as speaker.
“I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress, and I have always honored the song of St Francis. Lord make me an instrument of thy peace, the anthem of our city,” the 85-year-old lawmaker said in a video announcement posted on X. “That is why I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking re-election to Congress.”
Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987 at the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She made the crisis, which was roiling her city, a top legislative priority at a time when the LGBTQ+ community had few allies in Capitol Hill. She quickly became known as a prolific fundraiser — since she first joined party leadership as a House minority whip in 2002, she’s raised more than $1 billion for Democrats.
In 2007, Pelosi made history when she was elected the House’s first-ever female speaker. During that tenure, she muscled through the passage of landmark legislation, including the Affordable Care Act, the repeal of the anti-LGBTQ+ “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. She remains the only woman to have wielded the gavel, which she regained after Democrats swept the 2018 midterm election. Through her nearly four decades in Congress, she has championed gun-safety reforms, LGBTQ+ issues, climate-change solutions, and child-education programs. Pelosi also opposed the resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq and led the 2019 and 2021 impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
She was a frequent foe of Trump in his first term, which, combined with her political successes, earned her the fury of the right-wing. During the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, insurrectionists broke into her chamber and looked for her. In 2022, an intruder brutally attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, at their San Francisco home. The man, who was convicted last fall, admitted in court that he was looking to kidnap and attack Pelosi herself. The attack played a role in Pelosi’s decision to step down from the Speaker role following the 2022 midterms, though she remained in the House and sought reelection in 2024.
In recent years, Pelosi has faced more opposition, often from within her own party — she clashed with newcomer progressives and fell out with President Joe Biden after she reportedly pressured him to drop his reelection bid last year. Now, with Trump’s authoritarian regime moving at the speed of light to break the country’s will, voters are urging aging Democrats to step down and allow a new generation to fight. The race to succeed Pelosi is already on: Even before she announced her retirement, Democratic state senator Scott Wiener and progressive political operative Saikat Chakrabarti had said they would run to represent the district. Now it’s likely other candidates will enter the fray.
In the meantime, Pelosi expressed appreciation for her constituents as she prepares for her next chapter. “With a grateful heart I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative. As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she said in her announcement video. “We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way, 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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