Rep. Nancy Pelosi, trailblazing Democratic leader from San Francisco, won’t seek reelection

SAN FRANCISCO — Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a trailblazing San Francisco Democrat who leveraged decades of power in the U.S. House of Representatives to become one of the most influential political leaders of her generation, will not run for reelection in 2026, she said Thursday.

The 85-year-old former House speaker, who has been in Congress since 1987 and oversaw President Trump’s two first-term impeachments, had pushed back her 2026 decision until after Tuesday’s vote on Proposition 50, a ballot measure she supported and helped fund to redraw California’s congressional maps in her party’s favor.

With the measure’s resounding passage, Pelosi said it was time to start clearing the way for another Democrat to represent San Francisco — one of the nation’s most liberal strongholds — in Congress, as some are already trying to do.

“It is with a grateful heart that I look forward to my final year of service as a proud Representative,” Pelosi said in a nearly six-minute video she posted online Thursday morning, in which she also recounted the major accomplishments of her long career.

Pelosi did not immediately endorse a potential successor, but challenged her constituents to stay engaged.

“As we move forward, my message to the city I love is: San Francisco, know your power,” she said. “We have made history, we have made progress, 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.” »

Pelosi’s announcement sparked an immediate reaction in the political world, with Democrats praising her dedication and accomplishments and President Trump, one of her frequent targets and critics, deriding her as a “highly overrated politician.”

Pelosi has not faced serious challenges for her seat since President Reagan took office and won the recent election with a large majority. Just a year ago, she was re-elected with 81% of the vote.

However, Pelosi faced two hard-to-ignore challengers from her own party in next year’s Democratic primary: Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), 55, a prolific and ambitious lawmaker with a strong base of support in the city, and Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, a Democratic political operative and tech millionaire who is pouring personal money into her campaign.

Their challenges come amid a shifting tide against gerontocracy in Democratic politics generally, as many in the party’s base increasingly question the ability of its longtime leaders — particularly those in their 70s and 80s — to maintain a forceful and effective resistance to President Trump and his MAGA agenda.

In announcing his candidacy for Pelosi’s seat last month after years of relying on her, Wiener said he simply couldn’t wait any longer. “The world is changing, the Democratic Party is changing, and it’s time,” he said.

Chakrabarti — who helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) unseat another older Democratic incumbent with a message of generational change in 2018 — said San Francisco voters “need a completely different approach” to governing after years of failure by longtime party leaders.

In an interview Thursday, Wiener called Pelosi an “icon” who contributed to San Francisco in ways most people cannot understand, and with whom he shared a “deep love” for the city. He also recounted in particular Pelosi’s early advocacy for AIDS treatment and care in the 1980s, and the impact that had on him personally.

“I remember vividly how I felt as a closeted gay teenager, feeling like the country had failed people like me and that the country didn’t care if people like me died. I was 17 and that was my perception of my place in the world,” Wiener said. “Nancy Pelosi showed that that wasn’t true, that there were people in positions of power who cared about gay men and LGBTQ people and people living with HIV and those of us at risk for HIV – and that was really powerful.”

Although expected by many, Pelosi’s decision nonetheless had reverberations in political circles, including as another major sign that a new political era is dawning for the political left — as also evidenced by the meteoric rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist elected Tuesday as New York’s next mayor.

Known as a relentless and savvy party tactician, Pelosi had battled concerns about her age in the past, including when she chose to run again last year. The first woman elected Speaker of the House in 2007, Pelosi has long cultivated and maintained a vivacious image, belying her age, walking the halls of Congress in her four-inch stiletto heels, and maintaining a rigorous schedule of flights between work in Washington and constituent events in her home district.

However, this facet has worn out in recent years, notably when she broke her hip in a fall in Europe in December.

This came just after fellow octogenarian President Biden sparked intense speculation about his age and cognitive abilities with his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June last year. That performance led to Biden dropping out of the race — in part by Pelosi — and Vice President Kamala Harris surging to the top of the ticket and losing heavily to Trump in November.

Democrats have also seen other older liberal leaders age and die in office in recent years, including the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another power broker from San Francisco to Washington. When Ginsburg died at the age of 87, Trump was nominated for the third time to the Supreme Court. When Feinstein died of illness at the age of 90, it was amid swirling questions about her competence to serve.

By withdrawing from the 2026 race, Pelosi — who left party leadership in 2022 — diminished her own potential for an unsightly final chapter of her term. But she didn’t admit that her current effectiveness had declined a bit.

Pelosi was an early supporter of Proposition 50, which changes the state constitution to give state Democrats the power until 2030 to redraw California’s congressional districts in their favor.

This measure was in response to the fact that Republicans in red states, like Texas, had redrawn the maps in their favor, under Trump’s leadership. Pelosi defended it as essential to preserving Democrats’ chances of winning back the House next year and controlling Trump during the second half of his second term, which she and others said would be vital to the survival of American democracy.

California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 on Tuesday.

In her video, Pelosi noted a litany of accomplishments during her tenure, attributing them not to herself but to her constituents, labor groups, nonprofits and private entrepreneurs, the city’s dynamic diversity and its sense of innovation.

She highlighted the city’s provision of federal resources to recover from the Loma Prieta earthquake, and San Francisco’s leading role in combating the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis through partnerships with the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General, which “pioneered comprehensive community-based care, prevention and research” still used today.

She mentioned passing the Ryan White CARE Act and the Affordable Care Act, building various public transportation systems in San Francisco and California, building affordable housing, and protecting the environment — all using federal money her position helped her secure.

“It seems prophetic now that the slogan of my very first campaign in 1987 was: ‘A voice that will be heard,’ and it was you who made those words a reality. It was the trust you placed in me, and the latitude you gave me, that allowed me to shatter the marble ceiling and be the first female Speaker of the House, whose voice would certainly be heard,” Pelosi said. “It was a historic moment for our country, and it was a momentous moment for our community that allowed me to bring in billions of dollars for our city and our state.”

After her announcement, Trump ridiculed her, telling Fox News that her decision not to seek re-election was “a good thing for America” ​​and calling her “nasty, corrupt and only focused on the bad things for our country.”

“She was quickly losing control of her party and it was never coming back,” Trump told the outlet, according to a segment shared by the White House. “I’m very honored that she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice.”

The House succeeded in impeaching Trump twice, but the Senate acquitted him twice.

Pelosi’s Democratic colleagues, by contrast, have hailed her as a one-of-a-kind force in American politics — a savvy tactician, a prolific lawmaker and a mentor to an entire generation of fellow Democrats.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a longtime Pelosi ally who helped her impeach Trump, called Pelosi “the greatest president in American history” because of “her tenacity, her intellect, her strategic acumen and her fierce advocacy.”

“She has been an indelible part of every major progressive achievement of the 21st century – her work in Congress has provided affordable health care to millions, created countless jobs, lifted families out of poverty, cleaned up pollution, brought LGBTQ+ rights into the mainstream, and pulled our economy back from the brink of destruction not once, but twice,” Schiff said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Pelosi “inspired generations,” that her “courage and conviction about San Francisco, California and our nation set the standard for what public service should be” and that her impact on the country was “unparalleled.”

“I wish you the best in this new chapter – you have more than earned it,” Newsom wrote above Pelosi’s online video.