I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” Pelosi, 85, said Thursday in a sweeping video that stood as a love letter to the city she has represented for nearly 40 years in Washington.
She was widely expected to leave Congress after this term, her first in decades as a rank-and-file member.
Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987, and made history as the House’s first-ever female speaker in 2007.
She personally raised tens of millions of dollars for the push, according to a person familiar with her fundraising efforts.
While Pelosi herself wasn’t on the ballot Tuesday, it was a fitting closing coda to a storied political career.
Pelosi sits with her grandchildren while being nominated as the next House speaker during a swearing-in ceremony for the 110th Congress in 2007.
Pelosi does not often speak of the glass ceilings for women in politics or her own role in breaking them. »