In California and America, we’ll never see another leader like Nancy Pelosi | Opinion

In announcing her retirement from a historic run in Congress, where she was the first woman to be Speaker of the House of Representatives and a legislative titan whose diminutive stature belied the gigantic power she wielded, it can be said without hyperbole that we will never see a leader like Nancy Pelosi again.

“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” she said in a video posted to the social media site X on Thursday morning, where she announced that she would not seek re-election next year.

Truthfully, this is also a moment for Californians to be grateful: Grateful that Pelosi, 85, is once again leading the way for democratic leadership, by acknowledging that it’s time to cede power to a new generation of dreamers.

Pelosi has been a controversial figure during her nearly four decades in office, but it’s important to remember that when she was first elected in 1987, there were only 25 women serving in Congress. Today, there are more than 150. Pelosi was the first woman to be elected U.S. House speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress.

With such resounding success in her own career, Pelosi has undoubtedly encouraged women in office who otherwise would not have had a role model. Those accomplishments alone would have ensured her name was forever inscribed in the halls of Congress, but surely we can recognize that without her leadership, America would be in a far worse place than it currently is.

For starters, without Speaker Pelosi, there would likely be no Affordable Care Act as we know it. She famously worked behind the scenes to privately push President Barack Obama toward health care reform, and has since voted consistently to increase Medicare and Medicaid benefits, in the face of deep (and continuing) opposition from the GOP.

The congresswoman, who represents deep-blue San Francisco, was also at the front lines of the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and 90s, which was at its most extreme when she first entered office. She was one of the very few elected officials at the time who openly acknowledged the crisis and urged then-President Ronald Reagan and later President George H. Bush to recognize the emergency.

Despite condemnation even from members of her own party, Pelosi made it clear from her very first floor speech that she would be an advocate for the LGBTQ community, and hired a gay man as her director of AIDS policy within weeks of taking office.

In 1990, she helped co-author the Ryan White CARE Act, in honor of the Indiana teenager who died in 1984 after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion. Ryan White payer programs are often used as a “payer of last resort” for patients with no financial options, and have undoubtedly saved millions of lives. The program still provides some level of care for approximately 500,000 people each year.

In addition to her advocacy of LGBTQ+ community, Pelosi has supported environmental causes, abortion rights, the legalization of gay marriage, the use of medical marijuana and has remained a strong advocate for civil liberties.

“Through her passion for climate and environmental issues, she forged a new era of climate action I am fortunate to be a part of,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, in a press release. “Trailblazer, mentor, Speaker, role model, legend. Nancy Pelosi has served countless roles in her time in public service, inspiring millions and making history while improving lives across this country and around the world.”

In 2002, Pelosi opposed President George W. Bush’s Iraq Resolution, which authorized the use of the Armed Forces in Iraq under infamously false pretenses, and ultimately led to America’s involvement in the Middle East for the next two decades.

Despite these definitive successes, Pelosi has also endured scrutiny by both conservatives and progressives. Often from the former for being too liberal, and from the latter for not being liberal enough.

The strongest arguments, in my personal opinion, stem from allegations that the Pelosi family has benefitted from insider trading, after her husband made nearly $4 million in gains during a 2024 sale of the family’s Nvidia stock. Pelosi denied those allegations, a spokesperson telling FOX Business at the time that “Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.”

From her left, Pelosi has often garnered accusations of being the poster child for the liberal elite, a valid argument that has haunted the reputation of her final years in office, especially as a popular call has grown for elder statesmen and women to finally retire.

Out of 435 members of the United States Congress, 119 are age 70 or older. That number includes 19 octogenarians, four of whom are from California: Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, 81; Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, 80; Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, 87; and Pelosi, D-San Francisco, 85. (Another nine California representatives are in their 70s.)

Pelosi, ever the canny politician, was clearly waiting until after the Nov. 4 election to make her announcement, a move that many California Democrats either echoed — or were instructed to echo — with their own campaign announcements. One who did not wait was state senator Scott Wiener, who announced he would run for Pelosi’s seat in 2026 regardless of her decision; though it seems likely now that Wiener and Pelosi had some type of understanding.

“In her years of public service, Nancy Pelosi made every day count and moved mountains for San Francisco and our nation,” Wiener wrote in a press release after her public announcement. “Millions of lives have been transformed for the better through the laws she has passed and the example of fearless leadership she has provided our country.”

If America was truly a land of equal opportunity for women as well as men, Pelosi could have been — and perhaps should have been — President Pelosi. But as she knows as well as I, women have yet to break our nation’s sexist gender barriers in the highest office.

But Pelosi has undoubtedly paved the way for the nation’s first female president, and every woman who follows after her can look back with thanks at both the successes and pitfalls she deftly handled during her four decades of service to our nation.

As a nation, we can be grateful for so much in Pelosi’s long career, including the decision to step aside now.

This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 2:07 PM.