Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first female elected speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, heading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023. Her 20 years as a House party leader are tied with Joe Martin's as the second-longest after Sam Rayburn. Pelosi is in her 20th term, having served in the House since 1987, representing , which includes most of San Francisco. She is the dean of California's congressional delegation.
The daughter of Representative Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore. She graduated from Trinity College, Washington, in 1962 and married businessman Paul Pelosi the next year. They moved to New York City before settling down in San Francisco with their children. Focused on raising her family, Pelosi entered politics in the 1960s as a volunteer for the Democratic Party. After years of party work, rising to chair the state party, she was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election. Pelosi steadily rose through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2001 and elevated to House minority leader a year later.
In the 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi led the Democrats to a majority in the House for the first time in 12 years and was subsequently elected Speaker. She was the first woman to hold the office. Until 2021, Pelosi was the highest-ranking woman in the presidential line of succession in U.S. history. During her first speakership, Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush administration's attempts to partially privatize Social Security. She then helped pass the Obama administration's landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the 2010 Tax Relief Act. Pelosi lost the speakership after the Republican Party retook the majority in the 2010 midterm elections, but retained her role as leader of the House Democrats.
In the 2018 midterms, Democrats regained majority control of the House, and Pelosi was again elected speaker. This made her the first former speaker to reclaim the gavel since Sam Rayburn in 1955. During her second speakership, the House impeached President Donald Trump twice, first in December 2019 and again in January 2021; the Senate, unable to reach the two-thirds majority necessary for conviction, acquitted Trump both times. She contributed to the passage of the Biden administration's principal bills, such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the 2022 midterms, Republicans narrowly retook control of the House, ending her tenure as speaker. She subsequently retired as House Democratic leader, and was succeeded by Hakeem Jeffries. In November 2025, she announced she would not seek reelection in 2026 and would retire in January 2027. Considered an influential power broker in modern American politics, Pelosi has been regarded as a polarizing figure, drawing criticism from both conservatives and progressives for her policy positions, anti-populist rhetoric, and leadership style, and has faced scrutiny over issues such as the Trump impeachments, insider trading allegations, and moments seen by critics as emblematic of liberal elitism.
Early life and education
Nancy Pelosi was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to an Italian-American family. She was the only daughter and the youngest of six children of Annunciata M. "Nancy" D'Alesandro (née Lombardi) and Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. Her mother, originating from Fornelli, Southern Italy, emigrated to the U.S. in 1912; her father traced his Italian ancestry to Genoa, Venice and Abruzzo. Pelosi's mother was also active in politics, organizing Democratic women and teaching her daughter political skills. Her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, a Democrat, was elected Baltimore City Council president and later mayor, serving from 1967 to 1971. Pelosi interned for Maryland senator Daniel Brewster in the 1960s alongside future House majority leader Steny Hoyer.
Early career
thumb|Pelosi, her mother, and President [[John F. Kennedy watch as her father is sworn in as a member of the Renegotiation Board, 1961.|left]]
After moving to San Francisco, Pelosi became friends with 5th district congressman Phillip Burton. In 1976, she was elected as a Democratic National Committee member from California, a position she would hold until 1996. She was elected party chair for Northern California in 1977 and four years later was selected to head the California Democratic Party, which she led until 1983. Pelosi served as the San Francisco Democratic National Convention Host Committee chairwoman in 1984 and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee finance chair from 1985 to 1986.
Early U.S. House of Representatives career
Phillip Burton died in 1983 and his wife, Sala Burton, won a special election to fill the remainder of her husband's congressional term and was reelected to two more terms. Burton decided not to run for reelection in 1988 and wanted Pelosi to succeed her, guaranteeing Pelosi the support of the Burtons' contacts. After Burton's death, Pelosi won the special election to succeed her.
Pelosi has continued to represent approximately the same area of San Francisco for her entire congressional career, despite the boundaries shifting marginally in decennial post-reapportionment redistrictings. This area has been represented in the House by Democrats uninterruptedly since 1949, and is strongly Democratic-leaning (as of 2006, 13% of registered voters in the boundaries of Pelosi's district were Republican). It has not seen a serious Republican congressional contender since the early 1960s. without any substantive opposition. Unlike in her 1987 campaign, Pelosi has not participated in candidates' debates in her reelection campaigns. In her first seven reelection campaigns (from 1988 through 2004), she won an average of 80% of the vote.
When Pelosi took office, there were only 23 women in the House. San Francisco was greatly affected; its large population of gay men was the epidemic's initial epicenter. Beginning in her first term, Pelosi became a prominent congressional advocate on behalf of those impacted by HIV/AIDS. Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White CARE Act, which allocated funding dedicated to providing treatment and services for those impacted by HIV/AIDS.
thumb|upright=0.8|Pelosi as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1993
Pelosi voted for the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987. The Act asserts United States title to certain abandoned shipwrecks on or embedded in submerged lands under state jurisdiction, and transfers title to the respective state, thereby empowering states to manage these cultural and historical resources more efficiently, with the goal of preventing treasure hunters and salvagers from damaging them. President Ronald Reagan signed it into law on April 28, 1988.
In March 1988, Pelosi voted for the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (and to override Reagan's veto).
Pelosi helped shape the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, working with California Senator Dianne Feinstein and New York Congressman Chuck Schumer. It became law in 1994. Pelosi also held chairs on important committees, such as the House Appropriations Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. Pelosi defeated John Lewis and Steny Hoyer for the position. A strong fundraiser, she used campaign contributions to help persuade other members of Congress to support her candidacy.
Pelosi served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees and was the ranking member on the latter until her election as minority leader.
In 2002, Pelosi opposed the Iraq Resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq, which passed the House on a 296–133 vote. She said, "unilateral use of force without first exhausting every diplomatic remedy and other remedies and making a case to the American people will be harmful to our war on terrorism."
Role as a Democratic Party fundraiser
Early in her political career, Pelosi established herself as a prominent fundraiser in the party. During the 2000 and 2002 election cycles, among members of Congress, she contributed the most money to other congressional campaigns. In 2006, Pelosi was the Democratic Party's third-largest fundraiser, behind former first couple Bill and Hillary Clinton. From 2003 to 2014, Pelosi raised more than $400 million in campaign funds. In the campaign to succeed Gephardt as the House Democratic Caucus's leader, Pelosi was challenged by Harold Ford Jr. and Marcy Kaptur. Kaptur withdrew her candidacy for the position before the November 15, 2002, caucus vote, and Pelosi defeated Ford 117–29 in the closed-door vote of caucus members. Critics of Pelosi characterized her as too liberal to be a successful House leader.
As minority leader, Pelosi sharply criticized the handling of the Iraq War by President Bush and his administration, in 2004 saying Bush had demonstrated areas of "incompetence".
In a relative surprise, the Democratic Party lost three seats in the 2004 House elections, which coincided with Bush's reelection as president. Focused on retaking the House majority in 2006, in her second term as minority leader Pelosi worked to criticize the Bush administration more effectively and to contrast the Democratic Party with it. In November 2005, prominent congressional Democrat John Murtha proposed that the U.S. begin a withdrawal of troops from Iraq at the "earliest predictable date". Pelosi initially declined to commit to supporting Murtha's proposal. Speaker Dennis Hastert soon brought to the floor a vote on a non-binding resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops, seeking to trap Democrats into taking a more radical stance. Pelosi led Democrats in voting against the resolution, which failed in a 403–3 floor vote. Roughly two weeks later, Pelosi held a press conference in which she endorsed Murtha's proposal. Some critics believed that Pelosi's support for a troop withdrawal would prevent the Democrats from winning a House majority in the 2006 elections. For instance, during the 2022 election cycle, Republicans ran more than $50 million in ads that negatively characterized or invoked Pelosi, and in the 2010 cycle, they spent more than $65 million on such ads.
First speakership (2007–2011)
2007 speakership election
thumb|right|President [[George W. Bush meets with Speaker-designate Pelosi and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer on November 9, 2006.]]
In the 2006 elections, the Democrats took control of the House, picking up 30 seats, the party's largest House seat gain since the 1974 elections held in the wake of the Watergate scandal. On November 16, 2006, the Democratic caucus unanimously nominated her for speaker.
Pelosi supported her longtime friend John Murtha for House majority leader, the second-ranking post in the House. His competitor was House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, who had been Pelosi's second-in-command since 2003. Hoyer was elected House majority leader over Murtha by a margin of 149–86.
On January 4, 2007, Pelosi defeated Republican John Boehner of Ohio, 233 votes to 202, in the election for speaker of the House.
Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, nominated Pelosi, and her longtime friend John Dingell swore her in, as the dean of the House of Representatives traditionally does.
thumb|upright=1.35|start=00:16|thumbtime=00:35|Pelosi (right) with Vice President [[Dick Cheney behind President George W. Bush at the 2007 State of the Union Address. Pelosi became the first woman to sit behind the podium at such an address. Bush acknowledged this by beginning his speech with the words, "Tonight, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker."]]
Pelosi was the first woman, the first Californian, and the first Italian-American to hold the speakership. She was also the second speaker from a state west of the Rocky Mountains. The first was Washington's Tom Foley, the last Democrat to hold the post before Pelosi.
During her speech, she discussed the historical importance of being the first woman to hold the position of Speaker:
She also said Iraq was the major issue facing the 110th Congress while incorporating some Democratic Party beliefs: