Nancy Pelosi, American lawyer and politician, 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; née D'Alesandro; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician serving as speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019, and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has served as a U.S. representative from California since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi is the only woman in U.S. history to serve as speaker of the House.
Currently in her 18th term, Pelosi was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election, following her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., into politics. He had served as a U.S. representative from Maryland and mayor of Baltimore. She is the dean of California's congressional delegation, having begun her 18th term in 2021. Pelosi represents California's 12th congressional district, which comprises four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco. She initially represented the 5th district (1987–1993), and then, when district boundaries were redrawn after the 1990 census, the 8th district (1993–2013). Pelosi has led the House Democrats since 2003—the first woman to lead a party in Congress—serving twice each as House Minority Leader (2003–2007 and 2011–2019) and as Speaker (2007–2011 and since 2019).
Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush administration's 2005 attempt to partially privatize Social Security. During her first speakership, she was instrumental in the passage of many of the Obama administration's landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the 2010 Tax Relief Act.
Pelosi lost the speakership in 2011 after the Republican Party won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. But she retained her role as leader of the House Democratic Caucus and returned to the role of House minority leader. In the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats regained control of the House. When the 116th Congress convened on January 3, 2019, Pelosi was again elected Speaker, becoming the first former Speaker to return to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955. Under Pelosi's leadership, the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump, first on December 18, 2019, and again on January 13, 2021; Trump was acquitted both times by the Senate.On January 3, 2021, Pelosi was reelected to a fourth term as speaker of the House, which had been expected to be her last, after a deal with progressives. During her second speakership, she was instrumental in the passage of the Biden administration's two major bills, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. She announced in January 2022 that she would seek reelection as a U.S. representative that year, though she had pledged in 2018 to not seek the speakership again.