Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, announced on November 6, 2025, that she will not run in 2026 and will retire when her current term ends in early 2027, capping a career that began with a 1987 special election and reshaped House leadership, legislation and party politics.
Nancy Pelosi’s decision not to seek reelection ends one of the most consequential congressional careers in modern U.S. history. In a video message on November 6, 2025, the San Francisco Democrat said she will serve out her term and step aside in January 2027. Multiple outlets reported the announcement and timeline, noting she was first elected in 1987 and has served nearly four decades. (washingtonpost.com)
Elected in a 1987 special election at age 47 after the death of Rep. Sala Burton—who, according to contemporaneous accounts and oral histories, urged Pelosi on her deathbed to run—Pelosi arrived as a homemaker-turned-party organizer and mother of five. At the time, just 25 women served in the House and Senate combined, and there was no women’s restroom off the House floor, a facility the chamber did not add until 2011. (upi.com)
Pelosi made history in 2007 as the first woman to hold the speakership and declared, “For our daughters and our granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling.” She later reclaimed the gavel in 2019, serving two nonconsecutive terms through January 2023. (washingtonpost.com)
As speaker and party leader, Pelosi helped steer major laws through the House: President Barack Obama’s stimulus in 2009, the Dodd–Frank financial overhaul in 2010, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” later that year, and the Affordable Care Act. Under President Joe Biden, she helped pass the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the Inflation Reduction Act, despite narrow margins and frequent Senate constraints. (en.wikipedia.org)
Researchers have since tied the ACA’s Medicaid expansion to significant reductions in mortality among low‑income adults. A 2025 University of Chicago/NBER working paper estimates roughly 27,400 lives were saved from 2010 to 2022—evidence frequently cited by Pelosi’s allies when assessing her legislative legacy. (nber.org)
Her record also includes opposing the 2002 authorization for the Iraq War and working across leadership to rescue the financial system during the 2008 crisis. Pelosi would later lead the House through two impeachments of Donald Trump and the creation of the January 6 investigation. (voteview.com)
Reactions to her retirement spanned the political spectrum. California Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded her as unparalleled in delivering for the state and San Francisco. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair emerita, called her “the most effective Speaker in a generation.” And Trump, in comments relayed by Fox News and reported by several outlets, called Pelosi’s retirement “a great thing for America,” labeling her “evil” and “corrupt.” In a rare break from her usual criticism, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene praised Pelosi’s “incredible career” and ability to “get things done” in a CNN interview. (kqed.org)
Pelosi’s decision follows a December 2024 hip replacement after a fall during a congressional trip to Europe, from which she recovered and returned to work. It also comes amid a broader push for generational change inside the Democratic Party; reporting in 2024 indicated Pelosi played a behind‑the‑scenes role pressing President Biden to reassess his reelection bid before he ultimately withdrew. (pbs.org)
The race to succeed her in the safely Democratic San Francisco district is already forming. Early entrants and endorsers include state Sen. Scott Wiener, who has received high‑profile backing, and Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez who launched a 2026 bid months before Pelosi’s announcement. (politico.com)
Pelosi’s allies often frame her career as a story of persistence and institutional change: from an era with few women in Congress and limited basic accommodations to one where a woman twice held the House’s top job and regularly stitched together winning coalitions on defining legislation. As she said in 2007, breaking the “marble ceiling” was a beginning, not an end. (washingtonpost.com)
