Nancy Pelosi Will Reportedly Step Down From Leadership, But Remain in Congress

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After a 35-year congressional career, 19 of them as the leader of the House Democratic Caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will reportedly remain in Congress but will step down from Democratic leadership.

According to Puck’s Tara Palmeri on Thursday, “instead of riding high into retirement, as has long been assumed, or becoming ambassador to Italy—a diplomatic posting the White House has been holding open for her—Pelosi will announce that she plans to stay in Congress as a backbencher, roaming the halls in a sort of emeritus role and helping to guide Democrats through their turn in the minority.”

Pelosi is set to make the announcement on the House floor at 12 p.m. ET.

Pelosi served a total of eight years as the first woman to be House Speaker, between 2007 and 2011 and since 2019. The end of the 117th Congress will be on Jan. 3.

Pelosi’s move follows the Republican Party narrowly taking back the House of Representatives in the midterms – a projection most of the outlets made on Wednesday.

Additionally, this development comes a month after a hammer-wielding assailant broke into her home in San Francisco last month and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi. Paul Pelosi has since been released from the hospital.

Moreover, Pelosi’s move fulfills her promise when the Democrats took back the House in 2018 that she would only serve two more terms as the Democrats’ leader in the chamber.

Pelosi’s accomplishments as Speaker include getting through the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare; the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act; repealing the anti-LGBTQ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; the 2009 stimulus; the American Rescue Plan Act; and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Pelosi’s intention, according to Palmeri, is to “help guide” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as “future leader” of the House Democrats.