Nancy Pelosi, first woman to be speaker of U.S. House, will retire from Congress

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congress’ first woman leader, known for presiding over the U.S. House with an iron fist and a compassionate heart, said Thursday she won’t seek another term next year.

“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know. I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi said in a video posted Thursday morning.

The San Francisco Democrat, the Baltimore-born daughter of one city mayor and sister of another, was a dominant force during her 20-year run as her party’s House leader.

In her first stint as speaker from 2007 to 2011, she won passage of the Affordable Care Act. The overhaul of the U.S. health care system that made it easier for millions to obtain coverage but also ignited angry protests over its mandates and its costs, protests that still inflame political discussion today.

Pelosi, 85, was first elected to Congress in 1987, and was House Minority Leader from 2003 until 2007. She also held that position from 2011 to 2019 when Republicans controlled the House but made a rousing comeback in 2019 as Democrats regained the majority. Pelosi quickly became the party’s leading voice of opposition to President Donald Trump.

Once Joe Biden became president in 2021, she was instrumental in securing passage of economic plans to help people impacted by the Covid downturn.

Pelosi vs. Trump

She also presided over two impeachments. In 2019 Trump became only the third president to be impeached. Like the other two, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, he was acquitted in the Senate. Two years later, he was again impeached, this time for his actions involving the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. He was again acquitted in the Senate.

Pelosi rarely let up. She upended the usual decorum at Trump’s 2020 State of the Union a few weeks after he was impeached for his activity involving Ukraine. She sat behind Trump and then tore a copy of Trump’s address in half after he was done.

The speaker, though, found Democrats, particularly younger House members, were growing impatient with her traditional way of getting things done. They wanted more outspokenness, more confrontation with Trump.

She stepped down from leadership in 2023 but remained in Congress. And she remained angry with Trump. “He’s just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the Earth,” she told CNN’s Elex Michaelson recently.

Pelosi’s husband, Paul, got the spotlight in 2022, when a man broke into the couple’s San Francisco home and attacked him with a hammer. The assailant said he had wanted to take Nancy Pelosi hostage. Paul Pelosi suffered injuries to his skull. The attacker was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The race to replace Pelosi begins

Pelosi’s decision not to seek reelection opens the gates to the first truly competitive congressional race in San Francisco in nearly four decades.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, a prominent Democrat in Sacramento and longtime Pelosi ally, formally entered the race on Oct. 22. Wiener, 55, has represented San Francisco in the Legislature since 2016 and previously sat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He has raised more than $1 million through an exploratory campaign and would become the first openly gay person to represent the city in Congress.

While considered a progressive voice in Sacramento, Wiener is often seen as a moderate in San Francisco’s more left-leaning political ecosystem.

His campaign gained urgency after former tech executive Saikat Chakrabarti joined the race. A co-founder of Justice Democrats, Chakrabarti, 39, helped engineer Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rise in 2018 and later served as her chief of staff.

The San Francisco-based software engineer launched his campaign Oct. 8 and reported more than $240,000 in cash on hand as of June 30, according to federal filings.

Another potential contender is San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents the city’s Richmond District, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Chan has not confirmed plans to run but is believed to be weighing a bid, the newspaper reported.

If either Chan or Chakrabarti prevails, they would become the city’s first Asian American representative in the House — a notable milestone in a city where more than 30% of the population is of Asian descent, the Chronicle said.

Christine Pelosi, an attorney and Democratic National Committee executive member, has long been mentioned as a possible successor to her mother. But she has never held public office, which could pose challenges with some voters.

This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 6:28 AM with the headline "Nancy Pelosi, first woman to be speaker of U.S. House, will retire from Congress."

David Lightman

McClatchy DC

David Lightman is a former journalist for the DCBureau