Newsman: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 82, will relinquish her leadership post after leading House Democrats for two decades. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that she would leave her leadership post by 2022. She will step aside from, capping a historic career as the Democratic Party’s longest-serving House leader. Nancy Pelosi led her leadership role nearly two decades as the first women speaker.
“I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi, who will remain a member of Congress, said in remarks from the House floor to a packed chamber of Democratic lawmakers. “For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect.”
“This is the most beautiful building in the world because of what it represents,” Pelosi opened her speech, calling the Capitol a “temple of our democracy, of our Constitution, of our highest ideals.” She was met with multiple standing ovations from Democrats in attendance throughout her address.
Pelosi mentioned the long arc of her remarkable career in politics, which began when she was a homemaker raising five children.
“Never had I thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House Speaker,” said the California Democrat, first elected in 1987. “In fact, I never intended to run for public office.”
“Last week, the American people spoke and their voices were raised in defense of liberty, of the rule of law, and of democracy itself,” Pelosi said during her speech on Thursday. “With these elections, the people stood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy. They resoundingly rejected violence.”
“Last week, the American people spoke and their voices were raised in defense of liberty, of the rule of law, and of democracy itself,” Pelosi said during her speech on Thursday. “With these elections, the people stood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy. They resoundingly rejected violence.”
Over the past two years, Pelosi spearheaded the president’s key policy proposals, including the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the sweeping health care and climate package known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
Under her previous leadership during President Barack Obama’s tenure, Pelosi advanced a number of his landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Act, and a stimulus package in response to the 2008 recession.
Thursday’s news also comes as Pelosi’s husband, Paul, is still recovering after being violently attacked in late October at the couple’s San Francisco home — a traumatizing event the Speaker said would impact her decision. The assailant, 42-year-old David DePape, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping and assault of a federal official’s immediate family member.
As she wrapped up her emotional speech, Pelosi thanked her colleagues for their well wishes for her husband’s recovery. Democratic lawmakers gave her a long standing ovation and quickly lined up to embrace and hug the speaker.
