The California Democrat led her party in the House for two decades. Her decision will open up her San Francisco-based seat for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as the powerful speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Thursday that she will not run for reelection to Congress in 2026, ending the four-decade career of a progressive Democratic icon often vilified by the right.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not seek re-election, ending her decades-long career as a Democratic lawmaker in Washington, D.C.

The first female speaker of the House announced Thursday that she won’t run for another term in 2026, ending months of speculation in her hometown of San Francisco.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will not seek re-election to the US House, bringing to a close her storied career as not only the first woman in the speaker's office but arguably the most powerful in American politics.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi participate in a prayer vigil at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2022 in Washington, D.C., one year after supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to disrupt the confirmation of the electoral college win for Joe Biden.

In our news wrap Thursday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not run for re-election next year, the Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration block transgender and non-binary people from choosing their own gender identity on passports and a jury in Virginia awarded $10 million to the former teacher who was shot by her six-year-old student in 2023.

Ms. Pelosi, who broke the House’s glass ceiling after learning rough-and-tumble politics in the D’Alesandro family business in Baltimore, always counseled her troops to “know their why” — their true motivation for entering politics and government.