- With great confidence in our caucus,
I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership
in the next Congress.
For me, the hour has come for a new generation
to lead the Democratic Caucus that I so deeply respect.
- The political career of Nancy Pelosi started long before
she became the first woman speaker of the House.
It started at childhood.
- Her dad was the former mayor,
also a former member of Congress,
so, she walked the halls when she was six,
seven, eight years old.
- That is really where her foundation comes from.
It's the D'Alesandro family that provides
her instinctive political, tactical thinking.
- Pelosi moved to San Francisco in 1969 with her husband, Paul,
but remained active in Democratic politics.
- She was really a stay-at-home mom
for a big part of her early life,
but she was always an activist and that's where you really
saw her prowess as a fundraiser begin.
- In 1987, Pelosi ran for the US House of Representatives
and won in a competitive special election.
- She arrived here and immediately became friends
with a bunch of sort of young, up-and-comer,
hard-charging Democrats.
Famously, the very first dinner that she showed up
with all these new friends of hers,
Congressman George Miller introduced her
to this entire crowd as,
"Here is the first female speaker of the House".
- It's now my privilege to present the gavel
of the United States House of Representatives
to the first woman speaker in our history,
the gentlelady from California, Nancy Pelosi.
- In the first two years of her first speakership,
she was cautious in each of those first two years and then,
once they had the full force of the White House, Senate,
and House in Democratic control, those next two years,
she really unleashed the big liberal agenda.
- By the fall of 2010,
Democrats scored major legislative wins,
like the Affordable Care Act, a Wall Street reform bill,
a massive stimulus, and the Recovery Act of 2009.
However, this show of strength did not help in the midterms.
- None of those things were particularly
popular at that time
and they were delivered a crushing blow.
They lost 63 seats in 2010 midterms
and that set Democrats back for years.
- It was the first time that she stepped down as speaker,
but she did something a little different
than most speakers had done in the past.
She said, "I'm actually going to stay
and I'm going to dare you all, all Democrats,
to keep me as the top leader, even in the minority,
because I know, one day,
I will bring you guys back to the majority".
- In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president.
His declining popularity,
particularly among women and moderate Republican voters,
presented an opportunity for Pelosi
to regain control of the House.
- Pelosi uses that energy, that backlash to Trump,
to do an incredible job of recruiting
and they get a lot of great candidates
and they are poised to go on and win
in 2018 midterms, win the majority.
- Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans.
It's about restoring the Constitution's checks
and balances to the Trump administration.
- While some in her party occasionally suggested
it was time for her to step aside,
in favor of younger Democratic colleagues,
she was also praised for holding her own,
in moments like her December 2018 meeting with Trump.
- Mr President, please don't characterize the strength
that I bring to this meeting
as the leader of the House Democrats.
- Because Trump had this deep disrespect of her,
rather than cutting into her power, it only helped her.
- Her supporters would say she's never backed down
from President Trump.
She introduced articles of impeachment in 2020;
and again in 2021,
for the January 6th insurrection on the United States Capitol.
With Joe Biden as president,
Pelosi effectively kept her slim majority
together to pass numerous consequential bills.
- She is often tagged by Republicans
as the San Francisco liberal,
but really, deep down, she is much more of a bare-knuckle,
East Coast type of politician, who understands tactically,
"I need this person and I need that person.
I build this coalition
and then that's how I get something passed".
- She's probably the most effective speaker in US history
because we have seen her, especially in this last term,
be able to corral, support,
and make sure that every single one of her members
are able to pass legislation
with very, very narrow majorities.
And that's something that, you know, now that
we're talking about the future, if she's no longer there,
will future Democrats be able to, you know,
have a hold of their caucus in the same way?
And the same question goes for Republicans
who may step up to the majority.