Month: November 2022
House members urge federal intervention into Greg Abbott’s white nationalist declaration
Is Greg Abbott looking to the 2024 presidential race? Quite possibly, and groan, because after trouncing Beto O’Rourke in the 2022 election by nearly one million votes, the right-wing governor is continuing his string of nativist stunts, this week officially declaring supposed powers that he claims allow him to take “unprecedented measures” to defend Texas “against an invasion.”
No one’s being invaded, and Abbott knows that. He’s instead signaling to the white nationalists who like to use this language. But just as importantly, some of the supposed powers that Abbott claims he has, like returning migrants to the border, are strictly the job of the federal government. A number of lawmakers from Texas say it's incumbent on the government to intervene.
RELATED STORY: D.C. attorney general says he's probing whether migrants bused to capital were tricked by GOP
Campaign Action“As members of Congress representing the great state of Texas, we are deeply disturbed with recent comments made by the Governor of Texas suggesting he has invoked invasion authorities under the U.S. Constitution to justify the use of state resources to further militarize our southern border,” lawmakers led by former Trump impeachment manager Sylvia Garcia tell the Biden administration in a letter obtained by The Hill. They not only object to Abbott’s supposed authority, they object to his reckless, flame-throwing rhetoric.
“Legal authority aside, there is simply not an invasion happening at the border,” they continued. “Many of the immigrants arriving at our border are exercising their right to claim asylum and other forms of humanitarian relief. They are not waging war against the United States or Texas.”
It is sad that even has to be said, but Abbott has a history of signaling to violent white supremacists through his rhetoric. He knows damn well that “invasion” wording was used by the racist mass gunman who murdered Texans at a Walmart in 2019, yet he’s continued to echo that rhetoric as recently as this past summer. Greg Abbott knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s further endangering lives—even as racist mass shooters since El Paso have echoed that wording.
“Declaring an invasion under the U.S. Constitution is an incendiary and divisive idea that will certainly lead to unnecessary litigation and will encourage dangerous anti-immigrant sentiments,” lawmakers continued in their letter. “Put simply, this type of reckless stunt will only continue to put Latino communities at risk of greater violence.”
The Hill also reports that Abbott’s actions are again pissing off Mexican officials, who said in a statement that “implementation of migratory laws, border control and the negotiation of international agreements are exclusive authorities of the federal government.” Abbott already faced ire from the Mexican government during his short-lived, massively expensive flop of a stunt forcing commercial vehicles to undergo redundant checks that actually didn’t do much of any checking. Facing international blowback and massive financial losses, Abbott quickly ended the disastrous policy.
Abbott has continued his busing stunt using migrants as human props, expanding his scheme to Pennsylvania. Among those he sent to Philadelphia was a 10-year-old girl who reportedly arrived so sick with fever and dehydration that she had to be immediately hospitalized. But Greg Abbott doesn’t care.
“The Governor of Texas is taking a white nationalist conspiracy theory that has inspired multiple domestic terrorist attacks and making it official state policy by declaring migrants to be a literal invading force,” said Zachary Mueller, Political Director at America’s Voice. “In 2019, a Texas man murdered 23 people in El Paso, Texas, in an act of domestic terrorism, which he believed would stop the ‘Hispanic invasion.’ After three years and another terrorist attack in Buffalo, New York, inspired by ‘invasion’ paranoia, Gov. Abbott is fully embracing this deadly racist lie and giving it a governmental imprimatur.”
RELATED STORIES:
Greg Abbott signals to violent white supremacist extremists in latest anti-immigrant order
Republicans are refusing to stop using racist mass killers' 'invasion' rhetoric
Sick child bused by Greg Abbott needed hospitalization after arriving in Philadelphia, reports say
It took House GOP just one day to show why Democrats need to bomb-proof everything while they can
It’s going exactly how Republicans promised it would if they took the House: vengeance. Nothing but vengeance. Policy agenda? As if.
The first press conference of their majority Thursday, was from the Oversight and Judiciary Committee chairs laying out the number one target for their vendetta. It was all Hunter Biden’s laptop, all the time. A thing that is entirely not real.
On the second day of their majority, Rep. Jim Jordan’s Judiciary committee sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain demanding the testimony of White House staff about the administration’s “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings.” Another thing that never happened. All four of the people they are demanding testimony from are women, and some are women of color.
That was just the start. Jordan also sent letters to Justice, the FBI, Departments of Education, and Homeland Security telling them to “anticipate requiring testimony, either in hearings or transcribed interviews” from dozens more officials, many again of whom are people of color and women.
What about inflation? What about gas prices? What about fentanyl? What about violent crime? What about immigration? What about making sure everyone can afford to go to Disneyland?
As if.
Campaign ActionThey are not interested in making government work. They won’t try to make government work. Which is why it is imperative that Democrats do all the stuff while they have the majority. That includes figuring out how to put the debt ceiling out of their reach, just for a start. That one’s a necessity.
So is doing the least they can on protecting the next presidential election by pushing the electoral count reforms through. We have some breathing room on that with the great results in some swing state elections, but fixing this is important, particularly now that larger election reforms can’t get done.
It would also be super smart to revive the child tax credit monthly payments from the 2021 COVID-19 relief bill Democrats passed, and generally do do everything they possibly can to help regular people and to make a very big deal out of it—the Democrats’ Christmas Gift to America—to start making the case for 2024.
Which will have to happen the week after next, because they’re already gone until after Thanksgiving. Oh, well. In the meantime, enjoy the Washington Post showing us what a fool Kevin McCarthy is, and relish how his red wave became a pink dribble.
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Pelosi is right: It’s time to usher in a new era of Democratic leadership
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a 1,000 headlines Thursday when she announced she would not seek reelection as Democratic leader in the upcoming Congress.
That declaration alone would have ushered in a new era for House Democrats after two decades under her leadership, but Pelosi also helped clear the decks entirely for a new, younger leadership team to take over. Not only is Pelosi leaving her post, so are her top deputies Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the number two and number three House Democrats, respectively.
Clyburn's statement celebrating Pelosi's tenure included a nod to the future as he pledged to assist "our new generation of Democratic Leaders which I hope to be Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar.” Baton passed.
Regardless of whether House Democrats' leadership transition will proceed that cleanly (as it appears to be doing), the Democratic caucus now gets an entirely fresh start to elevate leaders of their choosing. They can take stock of the times, their needs, and elect a team they trust to chart a new course to the future.
True to her brand, Pelosi appears to be making a pitch-perfect exit. From shattering glass ceilings as the first female speaker to becoming an anti-Trump icon, Pelosi demonstrated steely resolve throughout 45's tenure, stewarded President Joe Biden's historic agenda through a razor-thin majority, and will now stick around to mentor an upcoming Democratic class.
Meanwhile House Republicans are already dissolving into utter chaos as they anticipate a majority with roughly the same number of members Pelosi counted during Biden’s highly productive inaugural years.
Campaign ActionFrankly, Biden, Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York should be enormously proud of their work and buoyed by the results of a midterm nearly everyone had predicted would result in a Democratic drubbing.
Though the outcome fell short of a Democratic sweep, Senate Democrats could still pad their majority while their House counterparts enter the next election cycle already within striking distance of reclaiming the gavel.
Biden, who had been pilloried for his low approvals, never became the drag pundits had ordained him to be. In fact, Biden arguably proved to be a net plus by repeatedly pledging to codify abortion rights while reengaging young voters with student debt cancellation, historic investments in fighting climate change, and moving toward decriminalizing marijuana.
If anything, the midterms strengthened Biden’s argument for running for reelection in 2024. But it's time to consider the possibility that Pelosi has got this right: It's time for a changing of the guard.
Just like his congressional counterparts, Biden outperformed expectations by a lot. He showed up in states where he could be helpful, such as Pennsylvania, while keeping a low profile elsewhere. He ultimately gave the Democratic base lots of reasons to get to the polls. And toward the end of the cycle, Biden closed on a message of GOP extremism, warning voters of the threat the party now poses to democracy and the fact that Republicans planned to cut Social Security and Medicare. In an era that is completely unpredictable and defies historic precedent, Biden navigated the turbulent atmospherics just about right.
And yet the president continues to seem bewildered by an unrecognizable political landscape that constantly cuts against his core and offends his sensibilities.
As The New York Times' Peter Baker wrote just before Election Day:
These are frustrating, even perplexing times for Mr. Biden, who according to confidants had expected the fever of polarizing politics to have broken by now and was surprised that it had not. The presidency he envisioned, one where he presided over a moment of reconciliation, is not the presidency he has gotten. He thought that if he could simply govern well, everything would work out, which in hindsight strikes some around him as shockingly naïve if somewhat endearing.
“In the old days, when I was a United States senator, we’d argue like hell with one another, disagree fundamentally, and go down to the Senate dining room and have lunch together,” Mr. Biden reflected to an audience in San Diego last week. “Because we disagreed on the issues, but we agreed on the notion that the institutions matter.”
“Well, the institutions are under full-blown attack,” he added. “I’m already being told, if they win back the House and Senate, they’re going to impeach me. I don’t know what the hell they’ll impeach me for.”
After the country narrowly escaped Trump's treacherous clutches, it was perhaps soothing to be led by a president so firmly rooted in a bygone era of shared commitments and institutional collegiality. Biden’s mere presence recalls a time when U.S. lawmakers almost universally considered America’s enemies without to be greater threats than its enemies within. And based on the midterm results, Biden clearly rose to the occasion even though it's an occasion that has dismayed him. Looking back over the arc of Biden’s presidential speeches, they were far more aggressive, forceful, and on point than he got credit for.
But as Pelosi noted in her speech, "for everything there is a season."
"Now we must move boldly into the future, grounded by the principles that have propelled us this far and open to fresh possibilities," Pelosi said.
Democrats have always been about moving boldly into the future while Republicans nostalgically cling to the past. A recent PRRI poll found that two-thirds of Republicans agreed with the statement, "Since the 1950's, American culture and way of life has mostly changed for the worse."
PRRI pollster Natalie Jackson called the 1950s question a "key predictor" of a person's support for Donald Trump and/or the Republican Party.
So as Republicans descend into crisis over who is the true leader of the party of yesteryear, perhaps now is a good time to consider which Democrats might emerge to lead the party of tomorrow.
The midterms have served as a proving ground for plenty of breakout Democratic talent that runs the spectrum from unabashedly liberal to battleground tested. Some campaigned in shorts and hoodies while others donned T-shirts emblazoned with the words, "my body, my decision." Taken together with some standouts from the 2020 contest, Democrats have a wealth of barrier-breakers in the making in terms of gender, religion, race, and sexual orientation.
The advantages of incumbency are massive, and there's certainly an argument to be made that Democrats stand a better chance of keeping the White House in 2024 if they stick with a president who is already in it. That’s the case that is ultimately Biden’s to make should he choose to do so.
But in 2024, Democrats could face anyone from the thrice-defeated Trump to a fresher face like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Either way, Democrats must live up to being the party of the future. That's what we expect of ourselves, and that's what America needs from us.
One way or the other, Democrats will emerge united to defeat an illiberal anti-democratic GOP that hopes to impose its 1950s values on a 21st century country. But for now, we should be exploring both the best message and best messenger to carry us forward. Biden proved to be that person in 2020, but whether he will reclaim that mantle in 2024 remains to be seen.
Election Night 2022 was full of surprises—mostly for people pushing the last couple months of traditional media narrative of a "red tsunami." The problem is that Americans are not super into the GOP. Markos and Kerry have been saying the media narrative was wrong for months, and on Tuesday, Daily Kos and The Brief team was validated.
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Biden has given many forceful speeches this year. Here's why they're not breaking through
The 1950s question that is a key predictor of Trump/GOP supporters
'There was a lot of finger-pointing' at brutal hours-long Senate Republican meeting
The GOP reckoning at hand is long overdue. Naturally, Republicans will still manage to fail
Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The greatest Speaker in our lifetime steps back and stands down
A Twitter thread from my Senator, Chris Murphy, CT:
There's one night I will remember most when thinking about Nancy Pelosi - the night I watched her single handedly save health care for 20 million Americans. It was at the first Democratic caucus meeting after Scott Brown won the special Senate election in Massachusetts.
Many rank-and-file Democrats were in a panic, and they lined up at the microphone to tell Pelosi that it was time for us to give up on the Affordable Care Act. Or chop it up into little pieces - as some in the White House were suggesting.I remember it like it was yesterday…2 months later, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act. And today, it's so popular the new Republican Congress won't dare touch it. I had never seen any person do what Pelosi did that night. I've never seen it since. There hasn't been, and will not be, anyone like her.
Maybe it’s the Affordable Care Act passing because of her, or maybe it’s the honor of being first female Speaker, and/or maybe it’s because she’s so damn good at what she does.
Whatever the reason, she’s not easy to replace. She made running a razor-thin majority look easy. But the next Speaker won’t have it easy at all.
Nicholas Grossman/Arc Digital:
5 Ways the Midterms Were a Win for Democracy
The threat isn't over, but it's better than it could've been
After Trump’s coup attempt failed, Republicans could have shunned it, but instead the party chose to rally around defending—or at least excusing—it, and worked to remove barriers that thwarted it. Most concerningly, a hardcore subset of deniers aimed to get state posts overseeing elections. They won GOP primaries for governor in swing states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Eight nominees for secretary of state, the top election administration position, formed the “America First Secretary of State Coalition,” openly promising to overrule voters if they don’t pick Donald Trump in 2024, and justifying it with lies about fraud. One, Arizona Republican nominee Marc Finchem, participated in Jan. 6 and says he’s part of the Oath Keepers, a militia that has seen multiple members convicted of seditious conspiracy for planning and executing the violent assault on Congress.
Every one running in a swing state lost. The only America First Secretary of State candidate to win was Diego Morales in Indiana, a solidly Republican state. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—a Republican who earned MAGA ire by resisting Trump’s demand to “find 11,780 votes” after Biden won the state by 11,779—got reelected by almost 10 points, having defeated an election denier in the Republican primary. Gubernatorial nominees Doug Mastriano (Pennsylvania) and Tudor Dixon (Michigan) got crushed, and supposedly rising star Kari Lake (Arizona) lost a close race against an opponent who refused to debate.
David Rothkopf/Daily beast:
GOP Authoritarianism Isn’t Going Away After the Midterms
Yes, many prominent election deniers lost their races, but a disquieting number of them won at both the national and local levels. And the GOP supermajority on the Supreme Court isn’t going anywhere—which means more fundamental rights are threatened, and partisans will have friends in high places should they want to distort election results in the future.
Thomas E Patterson/Journalist’s Resource:
How the news media – long in thrall to Trump – can cover his new run for president responsibly
"If they are to serve the public interest, journalists cannot apply the ordinary rules for covering candidates," writes media scholar Thomas Patterson. "They are reporting on a politician who regularly defies democratic norms and lies with abandon."
Margaret Sullivan/WaPo:
If Trump Runs Again, Do Not Cover Him the Same Way: A Journalist’s Manifesto
I believed in traditional reporting, but Trump changed me — and it should change the rest of the media too.
I was called the c-word repeatedly. One reader suggested I have my breasts cut off. I tried to let all this nastiness roll off my back and even found it amusing when a Post reader sent me an email calling me a “venomous serpent.” John Schwartz, then a reporter for the New York Times who had become a friend, suggested I treat it as a badge of honor and write a book titled “Memories of a Venomous Serpent.”
Now, six years later, we journalists know a lot more about covering Trump and his supporters. We’ve come a long way, but certainly made plenty of mistakes. Too many times, we acted as his stenographers or megaphones. Too often, we failed to refer to his many falsehoods as lies. It took too long to stop believing that, whenever he calmed down for a moment, he was becoming “presidential.” And it took too long to moderate our instinct to give equal weight to both sides, even when one side was using misinformation for political gain.
Charlie Sykes/Bulwark:
Will This Time Be Different?
Trump’s third campaign.
Yes, Trump beat the DOJ and his GOP rivals to the punch, and remains the presumptive Republican nominee in 2024. He knows he faces kvetching in the ranks, but he’s seen this before, and Trump is confident that he can reprise the takeover of 2015-16.
But the vibe isn’t the quite the same, is it?
Gary Abernathy (staunch conservative and previous Trump defender)/WaPo:
Trump proves that even his base can’t trust him now
Trump voters are understandably confused. Trump is not wrong when he boasts of helping to create DeSantis and Youngkin. They are molded largely in his image. He should be proud of them, not disparaging. They’re his progenies, the natural heirs to the movement he started. His base loves them, considers them their own and thinks Trump should love them, too. After all, he birthed them.
Trump has never been averse to criticizing his fellow Republicans. He deployed an unforgettable mix of insult humor and shock comedy — as well as an unerring sense of what Republicans wanted to hear from their leaders but weren’t — to take down a series of GOP governors and senators in 2015 and 2016.
But attacking DeSantis and Youngkin is different than taking on Jeb Bush. It’s as though Trump suddenly started mocking Don Jr. or Ivanka. If Trump will turn on his proteges, his followers are realizing, he’ll turn on any of his acolytes. Even his base can’t trust him now.
George Conway/WaPo:
Trump is out for vengeance — and to protect himself from prosecution
Donald Trump craves the power. Even more, he craves the attention. And more than ever — after an unprecedented two impeachments, a humiliating reelection defeat that he can’t even admit, and amid multiple criminal investigations and civil suits — he seeks vengeance. The l’état c’est moi president who apparently tried to sic the IRS on his enemies (and perhaps succeeded), and who tried to extort Ukraine into smearing Joe Biden, can’t wait to get back on the job.
Trump won’t succeed, as his successive losses of the House, Senate, presidency and last week’s midterm results show. Too many Americans would crawl on broken glass to vote against him, no matter who his general election opponent may be. They have seen enough.
‘You’ve gotta have a war every five or 10 years’
It’s not every day that a senator quotes a famous mob movie to describe the state of his political party after a week of infighting.
“You’ve gotta have a war every five or 10 years to get rid of the bad blood,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said, paraphrasing a line from “The Godfather" to paint a picture of Senate Republicans. “And then you start over.”
Tension built within the Senate GOP for nearly two years, from former President Donald Trump’s post-insurrection impeachment through a host of bipartisan Biden-era deals that many Republicans opposed. And after the party’s midterm election losses, those cracks turned into a chasm.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) mounted a challenge to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that embodied the conservative griping about the Kentuckian’s leadership style. As GOP senators spent roughly 10 hours in private meetings this week that at times grew highly contentious, the conference cleaved over a same-sex marriage bill that most of them opposed.
When McConnell defeated Scott, 37-10 (a tally that some Republican senators still won’t talk about) the intraparty whispers and rumors of opposition to the tight-gripped leader finally got quantified on paper. The GOP now hopes that its factions — or warring families, as Mario Puzo would put it — are at peace.
That McConnell faced his first contested leadership race in nearly 16 years atop the conference marked a turning point in the GOP. He’s held the post longer than anyone else in his party, and soon enough will break the Senate’s overall record. Despite that rarefied air, it’s clear that he was pushing for every single vote he could lock in.
Take J.D. Vance, a first-time candidate endorsed by Trump. The McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC showered battleground races with $240 million in ad buys, including more than $30 million for Vance. McConnell spoke to Vance multiple times this week in the run-up to leadership elections, lobbying for the Ohio Republican’s vote, according to people familiar with the conversation.
Spokespeople for McConnell and Vance declined to comment.
It’s still not clear how Vance voted in the leadership race; some senators believe he was a definite no, while others think he may have supported McConnell. The secret ballot process allows senators to keep their votes private if they want, but the majority of McConnell dissenters own their opposition — now and in the future.
“I’m not in favor of the current leadership. And I’m not going to be going forward,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who said he hoped GOP leaders had absorbed some of the criticism levied their way. “My worry here is that people don’t learn from failure.”
McConnell celebrated his overwhelming support this week with a thumbs-up and a triumphant press conference, striking a positive tone as his super PAC pours more into next month’s Georgia Senate runoff. But the same-sex marriage bill that moved forward this week with 12 GOP votes simultaneously drove a new wedge, similar to the split it caused earlier this year among the also-feuding House GOP conference.
The marriage protection bill made everything even more “rough — a lot of our members were adamantly against it,” said one Republican senator.
And a handful of ugly encounters this week will linger. After some senators asked for an accounting of the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s financial moves under Scott, the campaign arm chief fired back in a press release that under former chair Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), it had offered “unauthorized” bonuses to staffers at the end of 2020.
Young offered a chilly response on Thursday.
“I’ll answer any member’s questions as it relates to this. We operated the committee with great integrity, always above board and professional. So, that’s it,” Young said.
Senate Republicans' period of introspection centers on a few critical questions. The most important one: Why did they fail to pick up a single Senate seat in a midterm election under an unpopular Democratic president?
“We still need to do an impartial review of where we could have done better. A clear factor is that we lost independent voters. Why was that? What do we need to do to regain their trust?” Collins asked.
Though Scott was the top cheerleader for the party’s Senate nominees, McConnell and his allies have derided the NRSC's hands-off approach in contested primaries where other nominees might have proven stronger. That's already a relevant debate for the 2024 cycle: A contested GOP primary in West Virginia’s Senate race is taking shape, with Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) announcing a run and state attorney general Patrick Morrisey likely to run again.
A similar dynamic may be shaping up in Montana and Ohio, two of the GOP's other Senate pick-up opportunities in two years.
Already, incoming NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) says he’s going to do things a bit differently.
“We will look at every race in every state,” Daines said in an interview. “We want to see candidates that win a primary, that can win a general election.”
Without the majority, Republicans will be on defense for the next two years as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer still controls the floor. Schumer split Republicans on legislation like gun safety and infrastructure, earning McConnell’s vote along the way — although that dynamic will be muted now that Republicans have the House.
Then there's the question of whether Senate Republicans’ lack of a unified agenda cost the party. McConnell preferred to make this fall's Senate races a referendum on President Joe Biden, much to the chagrin of Republicans like Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Rick Scott, who proposed his own list of conservative priorities that became Democratic attack-ad fodder.
Enter Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who said he and other senators are preparing a policy rollout for next year.
“We’ll be rolling out five or six major pieces of legislation in January, February, March, April, May,” the Louisiana Republican said. “What we’re going to be bringing forward are mature products that I think have the potential to make the average American’s life better … and by the way, I think that’s good politics too.”
Toward the end of Wednesday's nearly four-hour-long conference meeting, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) made a rousing speech about the election. The former college football coach explained to his colleagues that even after bad losses that divided the locker room, his players would emerge as a team.
“Sometimes we air our laundry too much,” Tuberville explained in an interview. “A lot of that had to do with: ‘We just got our tail kicked. We're 21-point favorites and we lost.’ So I think that brings on frustration. I’ll tell you, I’ve been there."
His message was mostly well-received. But one senator reported an inauspicious follow-up to Tuberville's speech: After leaving the supposedly unifying meeting, this Republican saw Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaking to reporters about GOP leaders’ tactical shortcomings.
The senator's message was unmistakable: At the moment, a unified GOP may be more of an aspirational goal than reality.
Five takeaways as the Pelosi era ends
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) momentous decision to step down from Democratic leadership marks a watershed moment in Washington politics, sending tremors across a Congress where she’s guided her party for the last two decades.
The development carries broad implications for the workings of Capitol Hill, promising to pave the way for a younger generation of Democratic leaders, who will take over with Republicans controlling the House, while altering the image of the party after 20 years with Pelosi at the helm.
Here are five takeaways as the Pelosi era is set to end.
A woman in charge
Pelosi is a historic figure, becoming the most powerful elected woman in U.S. history when she assumed the Speakership in 2007, then repeated the feat again in 2019 after a long stint in the minority. It’s a distinction she still holds.
From that unique perspective, she championed bill after bill to advance women’s causes — including efforts this year to codify Roe vs. Wade following the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate abortion rights. And Pelosi’s speech on Thursday from the House floor — where she introduced herself as not only Speaker, but “a wife, a mother, a grandmother” — was thick with references to the progress women have made since she was first elected 35 years ago — and the long strides that remain.
“When I came to the Congress in 1987, there were 12 Democratic women. Now there are over 90,” she said. “And we want more.”
Pelosi’s legislative legacy is well known: She muscled through proposals as consequential as ObamaCare, the sweeping Wall Street reforms that followed the Great Recession and the massive climate package signed by President Biden this year.
More than that, she carved a well-earned reputation for counting votes and convincing reluctant lawmakers to support controversial legislation, even when it damaged them politically.
The combination made her among the most effective Speakers in U.S. history — and inspired women to follow her into politics.
“She’s broken glass ceilings and been a true role model for generations of women — including myself,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
A unifying speech
Pelosi comes from a family steeped in the traditions of the Democratic Party — her father was a member of the House through much of the 1940s — and she can be fiercely partisan in her confrontations with Republicans on countless issues of politics and policy. But her speech on Thursday avoided the type of partisan fire breathing that’s become routine on Capitol Hill.
Instead, Pelosi sought to meet the moment with a message of unity and high ideals, invoking legendary Republican figures like Daniel Webster and Abraham Lincoln to make the case that fighting for the country’s founding principles is a shared business.
“We owe to the American people our very best, to deliver on their faith,” she said. “To forever reach for the more perfect union — the glorious horizon that our founders promised.”
If there was a partisan jab at the Republicans on Thursday, it was not what Pelosi said but what she left out. In referencing the presidents she’s “enjoyed working with,” Pelosi mentioned George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — but not Donald Trump.
It was a glaring omission, though it didn’t appear to bother the handful of GOP lawmakers who were in the chamber to hear the speech.
“I thought it was very positive,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (S.C.), who was among those Republicans on hand. “I was happy to be there.”
Changing of the guard
Pelosi’s decision paves the way for a “new generation” of liberals to rise in the Democratic ranks, breaking the leadership logjam that the “big three” — Pelosi, Steny Hoyer (Md.) and James Clyburn (S.C.) — have formed over their two-decade tenure.
“For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic Caucus that I so deeply respect,” Pelosi said in her remarks.
Minutes after the Speaker’s decision, Hoyer — who has served as Pelosi’s No. 2 for years — announced that he would also step back from Democratic leadership next year, setting the scene for a seismic shakeup at the top echelons of the caucus that will usher in a new slate of liberal leaders. Clyburn has said he intends to remain in leadership, but has not indicated which position.
The announcements were music to the ears of younger, restive lawmakers whose ambitions have been frustrated for years by the leadership bottleneck at the very top.
But that changing of the guard, while officially put into motion on Thursday, has been the talk of Washington for months. Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Caucus Vice Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) are viewed as the heirs apparent to the “big three.”
None of them, however, announced bids on Thursday, opting to make their longtime leader the focus of the day.
“We’re all just trying to process what we heard and honor the legacy of Speaker Pelosi, what she’s meant to that chamber, what she’s meant to the California delegation and what she’s meant to me personally,” Aguilar told reporters. “Those are the things I’m reflecting on right now.”
But while Pelosi and Hoyer are both on their way to becoming rank-and-file members, they’re viewing the move differently.
“I feel balanced about it all,” the Speaker told reporters in the Capitol. “I’m not sad at all.”
Hoyer, on the other hand, asked how it feels to step out of the leadership, responded, “Not good.”
A divided Congress and country
Party polarization has worsened dramatically over the course of Pelosi’s years on Capitol Hill. And the House chamber during Pelosi’s speech was a glaring portrait of the stark partisan divisions that plague both the Congress and the country.
On one side were Pelosi’s Democratic allies, who filled virtually every chair and cheered her numerous times during the 16-minute address. On the other were just a handful of Republicans — and hundreds of empty seats.
The Republicans who were on hand — including Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.) — were glowing in their characterization of the outgoing Speaker, even as they emphasized their policy differences.
“It has been historic,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.). “She’s been strong for her conference all this time. There’s a rivalry with opposite teams and all that stuff, but you know, at the end of the day, we all try to remember and reflect on how you get along with people.”
Still, the empty GOP seats were a ready reminder of the tensions that linger between the parties, particularly following last year’s attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) was among the absent Republicans. And some Democrats said they weren’t surprised by the GOP no-shows.
“I have unfortunately come to expect an utter lack of regard for civility, collegiality, institutional respect, and frankly even respect for the American public,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said of the Republicans.
“The American public sent them a message, whether they want to accept it or not, last Tuesday. Which was: We want less of that. We want less divisiveness, less anger, less of this craziness and a lot more civility and respect,” he continued. “And it’s as if they heard nothing.”
Warning about democracy
The final chapter of Pelosi’s tenure as Democratic leader will be marked by her dogged defense of American democracy — even when it put her in direct conflict with her political foes.
As Speaker, Pelosi led two impeachments of former President Trump, established a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and ensured that the House would reconvene after the rampage to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election — in the very chamber rioters had infiltrated.
In her remarks on Thursday, Pelosi took pains not to attack Republicans, but argued clearly for the importance of safeguarding America’s founding principles if the country is to survive.
“American Democracy is majestic – but it is fragile,” the Speaker said. “Many of us here have witnessed its fragility firsthand – tragically, in this Chamber. And so, Democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm.”
Pelosi’s decision to step down came just a day after the formal midterm results had turned the House to Republican control. But it was Democrats who had overperformed at the polls, preventing the considerable gains that GOP leaders had expected.
In warning about the fragility of democracy, Pelosi made the case that voters recognized it, too.
“Last week, the American people spoke,” she said. “And their voices were raised in defense of liberty, of the rule of law and of Democracy itself.”
Pelosi’s most memorable moments as Speaker
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) announcement Thursday that she will not seek a leadership position for the House Democratic Caucus next session will end her 20-year tenure as the top Democrat in the body.
Pelosi has been elemental in many key moments since she took over as House Democrats’ leader in 2003 and as House Speaker in 2007, serving multiple terms as minority leader and Speaker.
She helped orchestrate landmark legislative accomplishments during the Obama and Biden administrations while working to hold her party, composed of moderate and progressive wings, together.
She was also a trailblazer in her own right, becoming the first woman to hold several different congressional leadership positions, including whip, minority leader and Speaker.
Here are a few of Pelosi’s most memorable moments as Speaker:
Becoming first female Speaker of the House
Pelosi made history through several leadership positions she held in Congress. She was elected to her first leadership position in 2001 as House minority whip, the first woman to hold the role. She narrowly defeated Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for the job.
Hoyer would eventually serve as House majority leader and work closely with Pelosi in Democratic leadership.
Pelosi succeeded Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) as House minority leader in 2002 after Gephardt declined to run again to prepare for a run for the presidency in 2004. She also became the first woman in that role.
Pelosi was an easy choice for Democrats as House Speaker after they won back a majority in the House in the 2006 midterm elections. She was chosen unanimously, becoming the first woman and the first Italian American to serve as Speaker in 2007.
Almost exactly 16 years after the party chose her to become Speaker, she announced her decision not to run for another term in House leadership.
Pelosi served as Speaker from 2007 to 2011 and took on the post again in 2019. She became the first person to serve nonconsecutive terms as House Speaker since Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) in the 1950s.
Calling on Bush to reject plan to escalate Iraq involvement
Pelosi was an early opponent of the Iraq War, splitting from much of her own party in voting against the resolution that gave the Bush administration authorization to use military force in the country in 2002.
She said in her statement announcing her decision on the vote that she was not convinced that all diplomatic remedies had been exhausted and had not seen evidence that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States.
She continued her opposition to the war once she became Speaker in 2007. When the Bush administration announced its plan for a surge in the number of troops present in Iraq, she and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) condemned the plan.
They said the increase would delay the ability of the Iraqi government to “take control of their own future” after the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and that adding more combat troops would not contribute to success.
They called for a shifting in the U.S. mission from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counterterrorism efforts, which President Obama eventually oversaw after he became president in 2009.
Still, Pelosi refused to cut off funding for the military operation in Iraq, saying that she would not end financial support while U.S. soldiers remained in harm’s way. She emphasized increased congressional oversight of how funds were being used, trying to strike a balance between more liberal and moderate members of the caucus.
Passing the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act was one of the most significant legislative achievements of President Obama’s administration and Pelosi was a central figure in the legislation getting passed.
Numerous Democratic presidents going back to Franklin Roosevelt had proposed or advocated for some form of universal health care, but they either failed to get it passed or focused on other initiatives.
Democrats made large gains in both houses of Congress, but they were one seat short of the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Obama wanted to achieve a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system, but his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, advised Obama to scale back his plans and try for a much smaller bill.
Pelosi rejected the idea, calling the smaller-plan idea “kiddie care.”
She became an architect of the final bill that ultimately passed, working to make the necessary changes to get the bill the support it needed. One change included the removal of federal funding for abortion, which Pelosi struggled with but deemed necessary to get Democrats who opposed abortion to support the bill.
After various agreements were reached, Congress passed the act and Obama signed it into law. The president called Pelosi “one of the best Speakers” the House has ever had before he signed it.
Announcing the first impeachment inquiry into President Trump
Relations between Trump and congressional Democrats, in part led by Pelosi, reached their most contentious point at the time after the House voted to impeach him in December 2019.
Controversy swelled after reports indicated Trump had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July of that year in which he pressured Zelensky to launch an investigation into President Biden, then a candidate for the presidency in 2020, and his son, Hunter.
Pelosi initiated a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump in September following a whistleblower’s complaint against Trump, leading to his impeachment. Pelosi oversaw the process, in which all but three Democrats voted to impeach him for abuse of power and all but four voted to impeach him for obstruction of Congress.
All Republicans voted against the two articles, while former Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), who left the Republican Party and became an independent, voted for them. Trump became the third president to be impeached.
“The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said in a statement after announcing the inquiry.
Tearing up Trump’s State of the Union address
Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address came at a tense moment, one day before the Senate was set to take its vote on the impeachment charges against him.
Trump appeared to ignore Pelosi after she reached out for a handshake before he began his speech. This was the first time the two of them had been in the same room since Pelosi walked out of a meeting with him in the White House the previous October. Trump called her a “third-rate” politician after the meeting.
Pelosi often shook her head as Trump made reference to policies like health care and Social Security, but she received the most attention for tearing up a copy of his speech in half at the conclusion of it.
“It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives,” Pelosi told reporters after.
Trump did not mention impeachment during his address, instead emphasizing his administration’s policies.
Pelosi reportedly later called the speech a “manifesto of mistruths.”
A video of Pelosi clapping at Trump during his 2019 State of the Union as he spoke about an end to "revenge politics" also went viral, giving Pelosi much attention online.
Responding to the chaos on Jan. 6
The position of House Speaker is not constitutionally responsible for the certification of the Electoral College results — that duty falls to the vice president. But Pelosi was deeply involved in responding to the events of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, when rioters hoping to stop the certification stormed the Capitol.
After the rioters entered the Capitol, Congress paused its session to certify the votes, and Pelosi and other congressional leaders were taken to Fort McNair for safety while law enforcement tried to take control of the situation.
Video clips released by the House select committee investigating the attack showed Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vigorously making urgent phone calls to multiple state and federal officials to send help.
Pelosi, then-Vice President Mike Pence and other leaders also discussed the idea of continuing the certification process at Fort McNair.
Pelosi repeatedly emphasized throughout the day that regardless of the rioters, the certification process must continue.
“If they stop the proceedings, we will have totally failed,” she said.
Announcing her plans to step down as speaker
Speculation built up in the months leading up to the midterm elections this year as to whether Pelosi would continue to serve as Speaker, following through on her previous promise from 2018 to step down after four more years in the role.
Pelosi largely stayed quiet about her plans and deflected questions before the election. She said the recent attack on her husband, Paul, would affect her plans but would not say how so.
Following the party’s better-than-expected performance in the midterms, causing the GOP to likely only win a narrow majority in the body, some Democrats indicated that Pelosi was in a strong position to decide for herself what to do and that she could continue to lead the caucus if she wished.
Pelosi ultimately announced during remarks on the House floor that she would not seek another term in leadership but would stay in her House seat representing her district, saying that “there is no greater official honor for me than to stand on this Floor and to speak for the people of San Francisco.”
Pelosi has been one of the longest-tenured House Speakers in the body’s history and will likely take on a mentorship role for the next generation of Democratic leaders.
Lawmakers celebrate Pelosi: ‘A historical figure’
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that she will step away from Democratic leadership next Congress marked a transformational moment on Capitol Hill Thursday, with liberals and even some Republicans offering praise and kudos to the California congresswoman.
In a highly anticipated address from the House floor, Pelosi, who has led the Democratic caucus for 20 years, said she will continue serving her San Francisco district in the lower chamber but will pass the leadership torch to a “new generation” of Democrats, many of whom have been waiting in the wings for a shakeup among the caucus’s top brass.
The House chamber erupted in a standing ovation when Pelosi, dressed in a white suit, wrapped up her speech.
A swarm of Democrats lined up to hug the outgoing Speaker following her remarks. Some even recorded the moment on their cellphones from the floor. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) brought his young daughter to witness the occasion.
“She’s a historical figure. She’ll be one of the top people in American history,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a close ally of Pelosi. “This is a tough, strong, smart, courageous woman that knows how to listen to everybody, make a decision, [and] implement.”
“She’s just such a venerated leader,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said. “It was so dignified, you know, the way that she carried and carries herself in such a dignified fashion. She went on her own terms, and I think there’s just nothing but respect there for her.”
Few Republicans ventured to the House floor to witness the speech from Pelosi, who has long been villainized in GOP messaging. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) attended — and participated in the standing ovation after her speech.
But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who this week was nominated by Republicans to replace Pelosi as Speaker next year when the party controls the House, did not attend and said shortly after that he did not watch her speech.
“I had meetings. But normally the others would do it during votes. I wish — she could have done that. I could have been there,” said McCarthy, who once joked that it would be hard to not hit Pelosi with the Speaker’s gavel when he takes it over.
The GOP leader and the Speaker have a hostile relationship, particularly during and since the Trump era. Pelosi called McCarthy a “moron” after he criticized the mask mandate she instituted on the House floor during the coronavirus pandemic.
“They’ve both [had] quite a career of how many decades they've been here working through,” McCarthy said of Pelosi and Hoyer on Thursday. “It's a whole new generation for the Democrats.”
Pelosi’s historic reign in Democratic leadership began in 2002 when she assumed the role of House minority whip. She later served as chair of the House Democratic Caucus and minority leader, but will be most remembered for her ascension to the Speakership in 2007, when she became the first woman to secure the gavel.
Throughout her eight years as Speaker, Pelosi helped usher in a number of massive legislative accomplishments: she oversaw the passage of the Affordable Care Act, helped authorize trillions of dollars of emergency relief during the pandemic and pushed through this year’s multi-billion dollar tax and climate bill.
The California Democrat also twice kicked off impeachment proceedings against former President Trump during his White House tenure.
“I just admire her focus, her workmanship, her dedication and her able to get things done and work with folks,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters. “When I think of the accomplishments that we’ve made under her leadership, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to be here during those times.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a close Pelosi ally who was first to hug the Speaker on the floor, called her California colleague “the most effective Speaker in the history of the United States.”
The Democratic praise for Pelosi was bicameral. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has served as Pelosi’s counterpart in the upper chamber for years, was present on the House floor during her remarks.
“I just left the floor of the House for one of the most emotional moments I’ve had in my career: the valedictory of Nancy Pelosi, one of the greatest legislators — and greatest people — I’ve ever met,” Schumer later said on the Senate floor.
“Few in American history have been as effective, as driven, as successful as Speaker Pelosi. She's transformed practically every corner of American politics, and unquestionably made America a better, stronger nation,” he added.
But as Pelosi heads to the leadership exits, some Democrats are emphasizing that the California lawmaker will remain a consequential figure in the party — regardless of the title she holds.
“She’s not gonna leave Dem leadership, she’s still gonna be a leader in this caucus, you know, without all the nightmares of us … without the pains in the asses she had to deal with all the time,” Dingell said. “She’s got a great deal of influence, we all know how smart she is, she’s gonna be able to pull people together. She’s going to be a voice people are gonna listen to.”
“I think that her being still involved will be helpful and it'll help us to get — get further faster,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said.
Pelosi did get some praise from Republicans.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who said he often speaks to Pelosi on the House floor about her granddaughter and his daughter who share a name, gave her a hug after her speech.
“We don't agree on a dadgum thing. And I prayed for her husband to get well. But I'm a Christian first, not a Republican,” Burchett said. “We still talk, and I think this country needs a little more than that.”
“We disagreed probably 99 percent of the time. But she's been a very effective Speaker for her own cause,” said Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) “She had a gracious presentation of well-prepared remarks. I think it was very appropriate.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) was also present for Pelosi’s speech and hugged her afterward.
“Part of it was I was first up to present on legislation immediately after. But also, I believe it was a historic moment there, and I usually tend to sit in on those no matter who it is. And thirdly, it’s an Italian thing,” LaMalfa said.
Others, however, did not contain their glee at Pelosi leaving the Speakership.
“I'm thrilled,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). “I think she's been the most destructive Speaker that we've had.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) chimed in with a tweet: “Good riddance!”
‘From homemaker to House Speaker’: Nancy Pelosi’s time in Congress
After almost two decades leading the House Democratic Caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that she will step down from her leadership role in the next congressional session.
Pelosi became the leader of the caucus in 2003 and became the first female speaker of the House in 2007. She has had two separate stints as House speaker and minority leader but has consistently been a face of the Democratic Party for a generation.
Pelosi has overseen the passage of many major pieces of legislation during her tenure and was often key to the legislative successes of the Obama and Biden administrations. She also made history on multiple occasions, becoming the first woman to serve in several of the positions she held.
"When I first came to the Floor at six years old, never would I have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House Speaker," she said during her remarks on Thursday.
Although she will no longer hold a leadership position, Pelosi will keep her seat in the House to guide the next generation of leaders.
Here’s a timeline of Pelosi’s career in Congress, from her first election to her announcement Thursday:
1987
Nancy Pelosi, who served as chairwoman of the California Democratic Party from 1981 to 1983, wins a special election in June to fill the remainder of the term of Rep. Sala Burton (D), who died in office.
She easily prevails in the heavily Democratic district, receiving more than 67 percent of the vote. She more narrowly defeated a San Francisco city supervisor in the primary in April.
Pelosi was 47 years old at the time.
1989
Pelosi sponsors legislation in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing to allow Chinese students in the United States at the time to be able to seek permanent residency without returning home first.
The House approved the bill unanimously, and the Senate approved it by voice vote, but then-President George H.W. Bush vetoed it, reasoning that he already planned to use his executive powers to give the students the protections the bill would offer.
The Chinese government also had threatened to cut off future student exchanges if the bill became law.
The House voted to override Bush’s veto, but the Senate fell a few votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority.
Pelosi would be a strong advocate for human rights in China throughout her career.
1990
The Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program goes into effect following advocacy from Pelosi. The program, which Congress approved as part of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, to provide affordable housing for low-income people with HIV and AIDS.
The legislation is one of Pelosi’s first legislative victories, and she becomes a proponent of providing protection and funding to help people living with the virus.
1991
A provision of legislation that becomes known as the Pelosi Amendment goes into effect. The amendment, which was approved in 1989, requires international financial institutions, including the World Bank, to allow the assessment of environmental impacts of proposed loans.
It also instructs U.S. representatives on the boards of these institutions to vote against any loans not subject to this public scrutiny.
1993
Pelosi begins serving on the House Intelligence Committee, where she would serve for a decade, making her the longest-serving member in the committee’s history. She serves as the committee’s ranking member from 2000 to 2003 and continues to serve as an ex officio member after.
1996
President Clinton signs a bill into law to preserve the Presidio of San Francisco following a multi-year effort from Pelosi. The Presidio was a military post from 1776 until the Army closed it in 1994, transferring it to the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and putting its future in jeopardy.
The legislation creates a public-private partnership to preserve the park and allow it to become financially self-sufficient. Pelosi initially sponsored the bill to provide funding for the park in 1994, and it passed the House but failed in the Senate.
The effort to pass the bill was renewed in the next session of Congress, which was controlled by the GOP, and was successful. Pelosi helped secure more than $300 million in federal funding for the trust, which was set to be financially independent by 2013.
2001
Pelosi is elected as House minority whip, the highest rank a woman had ever reached in Congress at the time. She narrowly defeated Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), with whom she would work closely in Democratic leadership, to win the role, which she assumes early the next year.
2002
Pelosi splits with then-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and much of her own party in voting against the resolution authorizing the Bush administration to take military action in Iraq. Pelosi said in a statement announcing her decision that she was not convinced that all diplomatic remedies had been exhausted.
Serving as the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, she said she did not see any evidence or intelligence that Iraq posed an “imminent threat” to the U.S. She remains a strong opponent of the war as it continues.
2002
Pelosi is elected House minority leader, the first woman to hold the role, after Gephardt declines to run for leadership again ahead of his planned 2004 presidential run. She wins with an overwhelming number of caucus members supporting her bid.
2005
Pelosi successfully organizes almost unanimous Democratic opposition to block President George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. Bush put forward reforming the program as his top domestic priority days after winning the 2004 presidential election.
Bush mentioned the plan in his 2005 State of the Union address and said that he planned to use the political capital he gained from his reelection on this initiative, but Pelosi and Democrats rallied opposition from the American people to the plan.
Polls showed widespread disapproval with Bush’s plan, and the president eventually pulled the idea.
2007
Pelosi is elected the first female speaker of the House after Democrats pick up more than 30 seats in the body to win a majority. Democrats unanimously chose her as their nominee almost exactly 16 years before her announcement Thursday that she would step down from party leadership.
She also became the first Italian American to be elected speaker.
2010
President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, one of the most significant legislative accomplishments of his presidency, into law. Pelosi was essential in gathering enough votes for the legislation to pass, working for months to win over the necessary support from members of the liberal and more conservative Democrats.
Obama said before signing the bill into law that Pelosi was “one of the best speakers” that the House has ever had.
2011
Pelosi becomes minority leader for a second time after Democrats lose control of the House. She fended off a challenge from a conservative Democrat to remain the leader of the caucus.
2016-2017
Pelosi holds onto her position leading House Democrats despite some talks of replacing her after the party lost multiple House special elections in a row. She defended her record at a press conference and her abilities as a “master legislator” and “strategic, politically astute leader.”
2019
Pelosi becomes House speaker for a second time after Democrats regain the majority in the House following the 2018 midterms. Some Democrats expressed interest in Pelosi stepping aside and the party moving to a new generation of leaders, but she made a deal with them that she would not serve for more than four years as speaker.
2019
The House approves two articles of impeachment against President Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress following an investigation into a phone call he made with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July of that year.
Pelosi initiated the formal House inquiry into the matter, which concluded that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to try to pressure Zelensky into launching an investigation into President Biden, whom Trump saw as a top competitor for the 2020 election, and his son, Hunter.
Trump was ultimately acquitted of the charges in the Senate.
2020
Pelosi tears up a copy of Trump’s State of the Union address after he finishes delivering it, gaining widespread attention. She told reporters after that it was “the courteous thing to do given the alternatives.”
Trump appeared to ignore Pelosi’s offer for a handshake earlier. The speech came as the Senate was in the midst of Trump’s impeachment trial.
2021
Pelosi calls on Trump to resign in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, promising to begin impeachment proceedings if he did not do so or if he was not removed by the Cabinet under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
After Trump did not step down and his Cabinet did not remove him, the House impeached him for a second time, with all Democrats and 10 Republicans voting in favor. A majority of the Senate voted in favor of convicting him for the charge of inciting violence, but the body did not reach the required two-thirds majority needed for a conviction.
2021
Pelosi maintains her role as House speaker after Democrats lose seats in the body in the 2020 elections but keep a majority. She leads House Democrats in passing major legislative accomplishments from the Biden administration, including the American Rescue Plan, to fight against the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the bipartisan infrastructure investment package.
2022
Pelosi becomes the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan as Beijing steps up its threats toward the self-governing island. She previously visited in 1999 as a House member.
She maintained that the visit did not violate the One China policy, in which the U.S. only recognizes Beijing as the legitimate Chinese government but considers Taiwan's status to be unsettled.
2022
Pelosi announces she will not run for another term in House Democratic leadership but will remain in Congress, representing her House district.