‘Icon of American politics’: Democrats heap praise on retiring Nancy Pelosi

Democrats praised Nancy Pelosi as a “heroic, trailblazing” member of the US House of Representatives, an “icon” and the “greatest speaker in American history”, following her announcement that after 20 terms in Congress she plans to retire.

The 85-year-old, the first woman to serve as speaker of the House and one of the most influential leaders in the party, said on Thursday that she would not be seeking re-election in 2026.

“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi said.

The news comes as Democrats are riding a high from this week’s elections, which brought major wins for the party, including the passage of a redistricting ballot measure in California and the elections of Zohran Mamdani in New York and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia.

Hakeem Jeffries, who succeeded Pelosi in congressional Democratic leadership, commended her “dedication” to serving, legislative accomplishments, and “strength and dignity” amid the 2021 assault on the US Capitol and the violent attack against her husband in 2022.

“Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi is an iconic, heroic, trailblazing, legendary and transformational leader. She is the greatest Speaker of all time,” Jeffries wrote.

As speaker of the house under Barack Obama, Pelosi was instrumental in the passage of the Affordable Care Act, among the crowning achievements of the Democratic president. Obama said on Thursday that Pelosi “will go down in history as one of the best speakers the House of Representatives has ever had”.

Adam Schiff, a senator from Pelosi’s home state of California, described Pelosi as “an indelible part of every major progressive accomplishment in the 21st century” and said her work “delivered affordable healthcare to millions, created countless jobs, raised families out of poverty, cleaned up pollution, brought LGBTQ+ rights into the mainstream and pulled our economy back from the brink of destruction not once, but twice”.

“She represented the United States on the world stage, trailblazing while balancing the demands of an unruly Congress, and like Ginger Rogers – she did it backwards, and in heels,” Schiff said in a statement.

Supporters of Pelosi said her service in Congress and groundbreaking rise to the role of speaker “altered the way we conceive political power”. Her public and private efforts helped increase the number of women in Congress, Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics, said in a statement, highlighting that there were just 25 women in Congress when she took office, and today there are 151.

“She made the imaginary real, and for young people who knew no other world, she permanently shifted the boundaries of the possible,” Walsh said. “But she was more than a symbol. She is as consequential a speaker as any who has ever served and much more so than many.”

Pelosi’s retirement, which has been long anticipated, is expected to heat up the race for her seat in San Francisco. Saikat Chakrabarti, a former tech executive who previously served as the chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and state senator Scott Wiener have already announced plans to run.

Chakrabarti said of the news: “Thank you, Speaker Emerita Pelosi, for your decades of service that defined a generation of politics and for doing something truly rare in Washington: making room for the next one.”

Wiener praised Pelosi for “years of courageous and tireless service to our country”. “Speaker Emerita Pelosi is more than a legislator – she is an icon of American politics. She led the fight for healthcare and obliterated Trump when he tried to repeal it.”