The Nancy Pelosi era has come to an end. After leading the Democrats for the last two decades, the House Speaker announced Thursday that she will step down next year from her spot at the top of the party, closing a momentous run for the most powerful woman in U.S. history while clearing the way [\u2026]<\/b>
\nThe Nancy Pelosi era has come to an end.
After leading the Democrats for the last two decades, the House Speaker announced Thursday that she will step down next year from her spot at the top of the party, closing a momentous run for the most powerful woman in U.S. history while clearing the way for a younger generation of up-and-coming lawmakers to climb into the leadership ranks.
The announcement, which came shortly after late midterm results had officially flipped House control to the Republicans, sent shockwaves across Capitol Hill, as lawmakers in both parties grappled with the thought of a Democratic House without Pelosi at the helm.\u00a0
Yet the departure is only partial: Pelosi will cede her formal leadership seat, but remain in Congress indefinitely, where she\u2019s aiming to assume a mentorship role and grease the transition for whichever new leader fills the mantle. Such a role would be unprecedented in modern memory \u2014 most leaders who step down quickly leave Congress \u2014 but Pelosi is not one to do things by the book.\u00a0
The House chamber during Pelosi\u2019s speech was a study of partisan contrasts. While her Democratic allies packed into their side of the chamber, filling almost every seat, the Republican side of the chamber was virtually empty \u2014 a sign of just how polarized Congress has become in recent years. \u00a0
Only a handful GOP lawmakers were on hand for the speech,\u00a0including Reps. Joe Wilson (S.C.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Doug LaMalfa (Calif.) and Young Kim (Calif.). But\u00a0a vast majority of Republicans skipped the event, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). Only one member of the GOP leadership team was on hand: Rep. Steve Scalise (La), the Republican whip, who gave Pelosi a standing ovation at the end.
Outdoing Scalise, Burchett gave Pelosi a hug.\u00a0
Her announcement ends\u00a0the perennial speculation game\u00a0surrounding the future of Capitol Hill\u2019s single most powerful lawmaker, and she kept them guessing to the very last.\u00a0
After Democrats had staved off a red wave in this year\u2019s elections, there was\u00a0plenty of talk\u00a0that Pelosi could remain in power, if she chose, even despite a previous pledge to step out of leadership at the end of this term.
In the end, Pelosi suggested her decision to exit hinged more on the recent assault on her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was bludgeoned with a hammer last month at the family\u2019s San Francisco home by an intruder whose intended target, police said, was the Speaker.\u00a0
By remaining in Congress outside of leadership, Pelosi can remain influential as an adviser, fundraiser and vote-getting whip while taking a foot off the gas of her famously frenetic schedule \u2014 a hybrid role that will allow her to spend more time with her recuperating husband.\u00a0
On Capitol Hill, the change will be seismic.\u00a0
Pelosi has led the House Democrats since 2003, marking the longest leadership run in either party since the legendary tenure of Sam Rayburn, a Texas Democrat, who died in office in 1961. Over those 20 years, she oversaw passage of some of the most significant legislative accomplishments of the last half-century; raised more than $1.2 billion for the party; and shattered the glass ceiling in 2007, when she became the first woman ever to ascend to the House Speakership \u2014 a feat she repeated in 2019.
\u201cShe\u2019s a tough, effective, focused, disciplined woman. I wasn\u2019t always on the same side as her \u2014 and it\u2019s not pleasant being on the other side of her \u2014 but she knew how to bring a disparate group of people together to get the job done,\u201d Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a close Pelosi ally, said Thursday morning as Democrats waited anxiously for the Speaker\u2019s announcement.\u00a0
\u201cFor women, the doors have been opened wider for all of us because of what she did.\u201d\u00a0
Along the way, Pelosi helped steer the congressional response to the Great Recession;\u00a0guided the passage of ObamaCare; secured trillions of dollars\u00a0in emergency relief through the COVID-19 pandemic; and made the decision to impeach former President Trump, not once but twice.\u00a0
Pelosi also launched the special investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the results of which could reverberate through the legal and political world for many years to come.
\u201cI\u2019m not a House historian, but what I hear from House historians is [she\u2019s] probably the strongest Speaker of the House we have seen in many, many, many years,\u201d said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), another close Pelosi ally.
\u201cIt\u2019s values, her strategic ability, her knowledge of the system, how to negotiate \u2014 all of those really melded into one person, which have forged an unbelievable legislative legacy,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd that\u2019s wherein lies her strength. \u2026 Someone who knows how to get from A to B, with a very diverse caucus.\u201d\u00a0
Part of that legacy will be this year\u2019s midterm elections. Heading into the polls last week, Republicans were expecting a rout, one that would lend them a considerable majority to do battle with President Biden through the last two years of his first term. Instead, Democrats were able to cling to dozens of toss-up seats in battleground districts, limiting the Republican gains and making it harder for GOP leaders to govern next year.\u00a0
\u201cThis really solidifies her legacy as the most accomplished Speaker in U.S. history, by all measures \u2014 all measures,\u201d Ashley Etienne, Pelosi\u2019s former communications director, said of Pelosi\u2019s role in the Democrats\u2019 midterm performance. \u201cThere\u2019s no question.\u201d
Pelosi\u2019s decision will clear the bottleneck that\u2019s existed at the very top of the Democratic Caucus since 2003, when she and her top deputy, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), assumed the leading spots. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) would join them in 2006 in the No. 3 slot, where he has remained ever since.\u00a0
Neither Hoyer nor Clyburn have ruled out bids to remain in power in the next Congress. But a younger group of up-and-coming Democrats is eager to climb the leadership ladder, or just get into the ranks.\u00a0
Three current members of leadership \u2014 Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.) \u2014 are expected to launch bids for higher spots at the first opportunity.
Jeffries, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, is widely viewed as the favorite to replace Pelosi. And Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who heads the Black Caucus, predicted Thursday that every member of that group would back Jeffries.\u00a0\u00a0
Jeffries is widely viewed as the favorite to replace Pelosi. But Hoyer, after almost 20 years right behind Pelosi, has raised tens of millions of dollars for the party over the years, building his own loyal following along the way.
\u2013Updated at 12:50 p.m.
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