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Representative Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that she will retire when her term concludes in early 2027, ending a remarkable career in which she rose to become one of the most powerful women in American history.
Ms. Pelosi, 85, was the nation’s first and only female House speaker, and she will have represented San Francisco in Congress for 39 years when she leaves office. She has served during an era of seismic change for American society and her own city, from the throes of the AIDS crisis to the legalization of gay marriage, and through the meteoric rise of the tech sector and the nation’s extreme polarization.
She entered political office later in life and became a hero to Democrats for the way she wielded immense power to push Obamacare, climate change legislation, and infrastructure programs through Congress.
“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” she told her constituents in a nearly six-minute video posted on X early Thursday morning, with clips of San Francisco’s iconic cable cars and colorful Victorian homes flashing in the background.
“My message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she continued. “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.”
Ms. Pelosi, who likes to use the phrase “resting is rusting,” led the House Democrats for 20 years, eight of which she spent as speaker. She has also been a prodigious fund-raiser and raised more than $1.3 billion for Democratic campaigns, according to her aides.
But she was reviled by conservatives, who painted her as the scary embodiment of liberal San Francisco values and blamed her for what they considered the nation’s decline.
She has been a chief irritant to President Trump, even to this day, calling him “a vile creature” in a CNN interview that aired this week. She presided over two of his impeachment votes in the House. And he has called her “Crazy Nancy,” with no sense of fondness for his foe.
Her Democratic colleagues said she was unlike any other politician with whom they had worked. Jackie Speier, a Bay Area Democrat who served in the House for 15 years, said that Ms. Pelosi would go down in history “as the most consequential speaker ever.”
“She has a command, a presence. All eyes turn to her,” Ms. Speier said.
Her retirement had been grist for the local and national political rumor mill for several years, and younger Democrats grew increasingly eager to run for her seat. They feared, however, that it would be folly to challenge one of the most powerful politicians in modern history.
Ms. Pelosi, for her part, told CNN days ago that she had no doubt she would win re-election if she were to run for another term.
Still, the overwhelming defeat Democrats suffered last year in the congressional and presidential races has prompted soul-searching within the party — and louder calls for older Democrats to step down and make way for new politicians with fresh ideas.
The race to succeed Ms. Pelosi was already shaping up to be a fierce one before she announced her retirement. Scott Wiener, a Democratic state senator from San Francisco who is a champion of housing construction, and Saikat Chakrabarti, who worked as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, have already announced they were running for the seat, with or without Ms. Pelosi on the ballot.
In recent months, Ms. Pelosi has refused to discuss her career plans, insisting she was focused solely on the passage of California’s Proposition 50, a ballot measure to approve newly drawn House districts. She worked behind the scenes to help Gov. Gavin Newsom craft the measure, which passed on Tuesday, and to raise money for the effort.
It was considered one of her final achievements, both a blow to Mr. Trump, who had sought more Republican seats in the House by gerrymandering in conservative states, and a parting gift to the next generation of California Democrats who could benefit from as many as five additional seats in the state.
Mr. Trump still has strong contempt for Ms. Pelosi.
“The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America,” he said on Thursday in a response to Fox News. “She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country.”
At a packed union hall in San Francisco on Monday morning, Ms. Pelosi was the emcee for a Proposition 50 rally that included Mr. Newsom and labor leader Dolores Huerta.
“This is a moment of truth for America,” Ms. Pelosi told the crowd. “It’s self-defense for our democracy.”
n the audience, union workers wore T-shirts that Ms. Pelosi had autographed for them and pins with drawings of six tiny Nancy Pelosis standing side by side, each wearing a suit in a different color of the rainbow.
At the rally, the ever-stylish Ms. Pelosi was sporting a green corduroy suit and green stilettos, never mind the fall she took in December on a marble staircase in Luxembourg that forced her to get a hip replacement and remain stuck for several months in dreaded flats.
Ms. Pelosi’s career in elected office has been a long one, but it did not span even half her life. Born into a politically powerful family of Democrats in Baltimore — her father and brother each served as the city’s mayor — Ms. Pelosi went the more traditional route for women of her age.
At first, anyway.
She met her husband, Paul Pelosi, at Georgetown University, and the couple moved to his hometown, San Francisco, where she stayed home to raise their five children. During that time, Mr. Pelosi grew his career as a venture capitalist.
As a young mother, Ms. Pelosi found a way to support the Democratic Party by opening up the family’s large home for fund-raisers. That led to friendships with a host of prominent San Francisco Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s, including Willie Brown, Jerry Brown, and Phil and John Burton, brothers who served in Congress.
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Representative Nancy Pelosi announced that she will not run for re-election. Her term ends in January 2027.Credit…Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
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James' World 2 
Nov 12, 2025 @ 15:58:23
She and her husband have been criticized for good reason. They’re corrupt.
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