Nancy Pelosi’s influence on Trump, Bush and Obama
Nancy Pelosi’s historic role spans clashes with Trump and key support for Obama’s agenda.
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on social media Nov. 6 that she won’t run for another term, the end of a groundbreaking career that made her the most powerful woman in the nation’s history.
“I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” she said in a six-minute video addressed to her constituents that began, “Dear San Francisco.” “With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”
The congresswoman from San Francisco, a liberal stalwart who was revered by her supporters and reviled by her foes, at 85 was facing growing grumbles that after 20 terms it was time for her to step aside. State Rep. Scott Wiener already had announced he would seek the Democratic nomination next year, and other contenders are sure to follow for the solidly Democratic seat.
During two stints as the highest-ranking member of Congress, Pelosi led two impeachments of President Donald Trump and engineered efforts to convince President Joe Biden to drop his bid for a second term. She pushed through the Affordable Care Act, the biggest expansion of health care in a half-century, and the controversial financial bailout in 2008 that economists say averted another Great Depression.
In the video, she also took credit for “bringing home billions of dollars for our city and our state” for transportation, environmental and other projects.
Pelosi arrived in Washington after winning a special election in 1987, her first bid for office after working as a political fundraiser and California Democratic chair.
She didn’t say why she had decided to retire now, but she has dismissed the idea that she was at any risk of losing the election.
“I have no doubt that if I decided to run, I would win,” she had told CNN a few days earlier. “That isn’t arrogance; it’s competence.”
