Nancy Pelosi is ending a legendary career in the US House of Representatives. The announcement made by the politician

Nancy Pelosi, the first and only woman to hold the position of Speaker of the US House of Representatives and one of the most powerful figures in Democratic politics in recent decades, announced on Thursday that she will no longer run for re-election in the mid-term presidential election next November, reports the American press.

Nancy Pelosi PHOTO: AFP

Pelosi announced her retirement in a video message, after nearly four decades in the House of Representatives in Washington DC, where she represented California.

Her retirement also marks the end of a legendary political career: Pelosi, 85, was the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives and led her party's caucus in the lower house of Congress from 2003 to 2023, according to the News.

The Democrat from San Francisco is also considered a consummate politician. She was instrumental in persuading President Joe Biden to step down amid doubts about the former White House's mental acuity, leading to Kamala Harris's candidacy, which ultimately failed.

“I always tell my colleagues in the House that no matter what title they've given me — chairman, leader, caucus leader — there has been no greater honor for me than to stand before the House and say, 'I speak for the people of San Francisco.' I have really enjoyed your voice in Congress and I have always respected the psalm of St. Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” the anthem of our city. That's why I want you, my fellow citizens of San Francisco, to be the first to know. I will not run for re-election in Congress”, Pelosi, 85, said Thursday in an emotional video that sounds like a love letter to the city she represented for nearly 40 years in Washington, CNN notes.

“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative. As we move forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power! We've made history. We've made progress. We've always been at the forefront, and now we must continue to be so, remaining active participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dearPelosi said.

The announcement ends intense speculation in recent days that the long-serving Democrat will soon announce her intention to end her run in the federal Congress after 38 years.

Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987 and made history as the first female speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007. She remains the only woman to hold the office, which she won in elections in 2006 and 2018. Even now, decades after her rise to the top of the House Democratic caucus, she remains one of the most influential voices in the party.

The politician announced her decision to retire two days after one of the biggest political victories in recent years: a resounding victory for a ballot measure in California that redraws the state's district map in favor of Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. She has personally raised tens of millions of dollars for the initiative, according to a person familiar with her fundraising efforts.

Highlights of a legendary career

Although Pelosi did not run in Tuesday's election, it was a fitting end to a storied political career.

The longtime Democratic leader has dedicated her last few years in Congress — both as speaker and as a member — to the fight against President Donald Trump and the transformation of the Republican Party.

In recent months, she has worked hard behind the scenes with her longtime friend, Gov. Gavin Newsom, to promote “Proposition 50,” which won Tuesday with an impressive 63 percent of the vote.

Growing up in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood, Pelosi grew up walking the halls of the Capitol, where her father was a congressman representing Maryland. The daughter of a former city mayor and the sister of another mayor, her peers often attributed her innate negotiating tact and political firmness to this upbringing. She has wielded powerful influence over Democrats in Congress — almost never losing a vote on the floor — and has used old-school tactics to hold on to power, including retaliating against her rivals by blocking their access to influential committees, CNN writes.

He never had a serious opponent during his presidency.

Two years after Pelosi stepped down as the House Democratic leader – under pressure to let the party's younger generation take over – the politician is still considered one of the most powerful and influential leaders in modern history.

In her second term as president, Pelosi has led historic showdowns with Trump, including congressional prerogatives battles that have twice escalated to a rare impeachment proceeding by the House of Representatives.

In one of the most famous moments of Trump's first term, Pelosi tore up a copy of the president's State of the Nation address to Congress while sitting behind him as the meeting was broadcast on national television.

The animosity between the two reached a new level after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, during which pro-Trump protesters stormed the complex and, amid widespread destruction, broke into Pelosi's leadership office and terrorized her staff.

His legislative legacy, however, extends far beyond Trump.

As a newly elected representative in the San Francisco district in the late 1980s, her inaugural speech focused largely on combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since then, during her time in Congress, she has seen seven presidents enter the White House, and she has participated in historic votes, for example for the authorization of the war in Iraq by then-President George W. Bush, after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, or for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. (Pelosi opposed both measures.)

After a steady ascent up the hierarchical ladder, Pelosi first won the position of speaker of the House of Representatives 18 years ago. Then, in 2019, Pelosi took office again, becoming the first person to win non-consecutive terms as speaker of the House of Representatives in six decades.

“It's a historic moment for Congress and a historic moment for women in this country.” Pelosi said in her first speech as speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007.It's a moment we've been waiting for over 200 years”, she pointed out.

The period in which he led the parliamentary group of Democrats in the House of Representatives included two separate mandates, during which the party held the White House and the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. During those years of full Democratic control of Washington, Pelosi, along with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, followed by Chuck Schumer, pushed through a number of important pieces of legislation, including the historic Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulating health insurance, which Pelosi's team said was “the main architect”.

He had a long personal relationship with the most recent Democratic president, Joe Biden, and the two approved billions of dollars in new funding to help the nation recover from the Covid pandemic and expand programs, such as the enhanced ACA subsidies, that are now at the center of the government shutdown. However, Pelosi withdrew her support for Biden in the final months of his campaign and was also one of the senior Democrats who privately encouraged him to drop his bid for the presidency in the summer of 2024, worried about his ability to defeat Trump. Former first lady Jill Biden later described Pelosi's actions in the run-up to the election as “disappointing”, after 50 years of friendship.

In nearly four decades in office, Pelosi has led Democrats as intensified redistricting efforts have removed moderates from the party — all but eliminating the Southern Blue Dogs, who once nearly killed the Democrats' health care law. Now, the Democratic caucus is a much more left-leaning party, with virtually no divergence of opinion on once-controversial issues such as abortion or same-sex marriage.

A few years after the health care law was drafted, Pelosi helped Democrats win back the majority in 2018 by riding the anti-Trump tide on a health-focused message that was a direct result of the Trump administration's repeated attempts to repeal the law.

She oversaw a period of rapid change in the party as increased political polarization reshaped national politics. This included a spike in political violence that hit her own family in 2022, when her husband, Paul Pelosi, was violently attacked with a hammer by a man who broke into their San Francisco home. Paul Pelosi, who suffered a fractured skull, required surgery and underwent a long recovery. She later told CNN that the attack complicated her decision whether or not to stay on as party leader at the time.

Pelosi doesn't often talk about the invisible barriers for women in politics or her role in overcoming them. But she previously confessed to CNN about her role in what was traditionally a political men's club. “I get some nicknames, because if you're effective as a woman, then they have to undermine you, because that's a real threat,” Pelosi said in a 2018 interview. She also reflected at the time on the importance of projecting confidence. “You know why I do it? I do it because I want women to see that they don't have to be intimidated. Don't run away from the fight!” she urged.