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Rep. Nancy Pelosi is making room for a new generation of Democrats.

The former House speaker announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of her current term. She will step down when her term expires in 2027, after a remarkable 39 years in office.

The San Francisco lawmaker was first elected to Congress in 1987, representing the city through the AIDS crisis, the legalization of same-sex marriage and the rise of Silicon Valley. In 2007, she became one of the most influential women in U.S. history when she was elected the first – and to date only – Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Even as her prominence at the top of the party waned in her final years in office, Pelosi wielded unprecedented influence: She played a critical role in pushing President Joe Biden off the ticket after he floundered in a live debate with Donald Trump in July 2024, paving the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to win the party’s nomination.

But at 85, Pelosi has become the symbol of an aging Congress. For years, she resisted calls to step down from office to make way for younger party members in California’s District 11. Calls for older lawmakers to retire have grown in the past two years, after the deaths of Reps. Gerry Connolly and Dianne Feinstein (a close friend of Pelosi), leaving Democrats short of critical votes.

Already, two young Democrats are fighting to replace her. Rep. Sara Jacobs, who currently represents California’s District 51 (the area north of San Diego), is Pelosi’s protégé. Jacobs comes from a billionaire family and has years of experience working with Democratic titans familiar with Pelosi and her policies, like Hillary Clinton.

The opposition: Saikat Chakrabarti, co-author of the Green New Deal. The 39-year-old multimillionaire also has experience in Washington, although he comes from a very different sector of the Liberal Party. He served as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first chief of staff and also worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.

Pelosi’s departure will also pass the torch of Democratic Party leadership to a class of Capitol Hill politicians she spent years mentoring, led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

This story has been updated.