WASHINGTON
Outgoing House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will not seek a leadership post in the upcoming Congress, stepping down from top positions she has held for two decades.
Pelosi remains the first woman to hold the Speaker mantle and her decision to step down from Democratic leadership is a watershed moment for the party as it prepares to elect its new top leaders the week after Thanksgiving.
“For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect, and I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility,” Pelosi said on the House floor, greeted after by a standing ovation as she concluded her remarks.
Pelosi said she “enjoyed working with three presidents” during her time as speaker, notably leaving out former President Donald Trump, but noted “achieving historic investments in clean energy” with George W. Bush, overhauling the healthcare system with Barack Obama and taking a series of historic actions alongside Joe Biden.
Pelosi’s decision comes the week that Democrats formally lost the House to Republicans following the Nov. 8 midterm elections. While Republicans emerged victorious, Democrats were able to prevent an onslaught of losses colloquially referred to as a “red wave.”
Republicans are now likely to hold a narrow single-digit majority in the upcoming Congress, complicating their ability to govern as they seek to stymy Biden’s legislative agenda during the final two years of his term.
Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has locked down the party’s leadership role ahead of the vote in January to establish the next Speaker.
That vote will require him to secure the votes of nearly every House Republican with 218 votes needed to claim the mantle, meaning he will have to do far better than he did in the rift-ridden internal leadership contest when more than 30 Republicans voted for rival candidate Andy Biggs.
Republicans are slated to hold a handful more seats than the outright majority needed to claim control of the 435-member chamber.
Shortly after Pelosi made her announcement, Biden hailed the departing Democratic leader as “the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history.”
“In the first two years of my presidency, she is a singular force securing once-in-a-generation bills that will define our nation for decades to come,” the president said in a statement. “Nancy Pelosi is first, last, and always for the people.”
