Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she will not seek reelection to be the House Democrat’s leader, opening a position that has remained firmly occupied throughout her two-decade tenure.
Pelosi, 82, became the first woman to hold the speaker position in 2006. Following a midterm election that saw Democrats lose control of the House, Pelosi’s time atop the party will now come to an end.
In her speech on the House floor Thursday, Pelosi cited the need for fresh blood within the party as the driving factor leading to her decision.
“For me, the hour’s come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,” Pelosi said. Pelosi will continue as a member of the house, representing her home district in San Francisco.
Pelosi’s exit also comes just weeks after an attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, shook both the speaker and the political world to their cores.
With Republicans in control of the House, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy will likely become the next speaker. On Tuesday, McCarthy won a closed-door election to win the GOP nomination but falling short of the votes likely needed in January.
Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jefferies of New York, the current caucus chair, is the early favorite to replace Pelosi as the party’s leader.
In 2018, Pelosi made a deal with a then-rebellious progressive faction of Representatives to limit her speakership to another four years, a pact that had come into question leading up to Thursday’s announcement.
Now, as questions linger regarding the age of many of America’s top politicians, Democrats will be thrust into making a decision — embrace the youth movement and inject fresh blood into the leadership ranks, or stick to the familiar and rely on experience to carry the party.
Although a new Congress will not be sworn in until January, House Democrats will hold closed-door leadership elections on Nov. 30.
