Nancy Pelosi, the first woman in the Speaker’s office, has announced her retirement from American politics after a nearly 40-year career.
The 85-year-old, who has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, revealed her decision two days after Californian voters overwhelmingly approved “Proposition 50”, a state redistricting effort aimed at flipping five House seats to Democrats in the midterm elections next year.
“I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” Pelosi said in a video address to voters.
“My message to the city I love is this: 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.”
An architect of the Affordable Care Act, Mrs Pelosi also been credited with quietly persuading Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
First elected in 1987, she came into politics later in life, and has long resisted calls to step aside, turning questions about her future into spirited rebuttals.
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But she’s faced new challenges in recent years.
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Last year she fractured her hip when she fell during a European trip, and was rushed to a military hospital for surgery.
And in 2022, her husband Paul Pelosi was gravely injured by a home intruder who beat him over the head with a hammer and demanded to know “Where is Nancy?”
Nonetheless, she’s maintained a rigorous political schedule of public events and party fundraisers.
Now eyes will turn to the question of her successor, both at home in San Francisco, and in the US Congress where she plays a behind-the-scenes leadership role.
She’s already faced a potential primary challenge from Saikat Chakrabarti, a left-wing newcomer who played a part in the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another rising star in the progressive firmament.
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