Nancy Pelosi Steps Down As Leader Of House Democrats After 20 Years

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has just announced she is stepping down as leader of the House Democrats (after twenty years).

“I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said Thursday on the House floor.

Pelosi, 82, is leaving the post as Republicans are set to take control of the House in January following the midterm election.

“Never did I think I’d go from homemaker to House Speaker,” Pelosi said, wearing her Mace of the Republic and a suffragette white suit.

Pelosi said she would remain in Congress, saying “there was no greater official honor” than to represent her San Francisco district.

BREAKING: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announces she will not run for re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress. pic.twitter.com/WxdkIkM6vl

— Forbes (@Forbes) November 17, 2022

If Pelosi stayed on she would be relegated to minority leader for the third time in her two decades as House Democratic leader.

President Biden said “the nation owes Nancy Pelosi a deep debt of gratitude for her service,” hailing her as a “fierce defender of democracy.”

As one wit commented, “I bet she will get hammered tonight…”

Will this be her new office?

New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, 52, is widely considered Pelosi’s heir apparent.