By LISA MASCARO (AP Congressional Correspondent)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mentioned Thursday that she won’t search a management place within the new Congress, ending a historic run as the primary lady with the gavel and making approach for a brand new era to steer the occasion after Democrats misplaced management of the House to Republicans within the midterm elections.
In a spirited speech on the House flooring, Pelosi introduced that she’s going to step apart after main Democrats for almost 20 years and within the aftermath of the brutal assault on her husband, Paul, final month of their San Francisco residence — and after having completed “the people’s work.”
The California Democrat, a pivotal determine in U.S. historical past and maybe essentially the most highly effective speaker in fashionable instances, mentioned she would stay in Congress because the consultant from San Francisco, a place she has held for 35 years, when the brand new Congress convenes in January.
“I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” she mentioned. “For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect.”
Now, she mentioned, “we must move boldly into the future.”
Dressed in white in a nod to the suffragettes, Pelosi was greeted with cheers as she arrived for the rapidly known as deal with. She obtained a standing ovation when she closed, lawmakers and company one after the other crowding her with hugs, many taking selfies of a second in historical past.
President Joe Biden, who had inspired Pelosi to remain on as Democratic chief, spoke with Pelosi within the morning and congratulated her on her historic tenure as speaker of the House.
“History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history,” Biden mentioned in an announcement, noting her capacity to win unity from her caucus and her “absolute dignity.”
It’s an uncommon alternative for a celebration chief to remain on after withdrawing from congressional management, however not with out precedent and Pelosi has lengthy defied conference in pursuing energy in Washington.
In an interview with reporters after her announcement, Pelosi mentioned she gained’t endorse anybody within the race to succeed her and he or she gained’t sit on any committees as a rank-and-file lawmaker. She mentioned the assault on her husband “made me think again about staying.”
But ultimately, after the election, she determined to step down.
“I quite frankly, personally, have been ready to leave for a while,” she mentioned. “Because there are things I want to do. I like to dance, I like to sing. There’s a life out there, right?”
During her remarks on the House flooring, Pelosi recapped her profession, from seeing the Capitol the primary time as a younger woman along with her father — a former New Deal congressman and mayor — to serving as speaker alongside U.S. presidents, noting three of the 4, however not mentioning Donald Trump.
“Every day I am in awe of the majestic miracle that is American democracy,” she mentioned.
At one level, she in contrast the better-than-expected exhibiting for Democrats within the midterms, the primary nationwide election after the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol, as “proof through the night that our flag was still there,” drawing cheers from colleagues.
The American historian Jon Meacham helped Pelosi along with her speech, however an aide mentioned she added that impromptu line herself.
On quick discover, lawmakers who’ve been ready and questioning in regards to the long-serving chief’s plans crammed the House, at the very least on the Democratic aspect, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined. He later joined a throng of lawmakers and hugged and kissed Pelosi on the cheek.
The Speaker’s Gallery was stuffed with Pelosi’s employees and company. Some Republicans, together with some newly elected members, additionally attended, although House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who’s looking for the speakership within the new Congress, didn’t, telling reporters afterward that he was “busy, unfortunately.”
Pelosi was twice elected to the speakership and has led Democrats by means of consequential moments, together with passage of the Affordable Care Act with President Barack Obama and the impeachments of President Donald Trump.
Her resolution Thursday paves the best way for House Democratic management elections subsequent month when Democrats reorganize because the minority occasion for the brand new Congress.
Pelosi’s management workforce, with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, has lengthy moved as a triumvirate. All now of their 80s, the three House Democratic leaders have confronted stressed colleagues anticipating them to step apart and permit a brand new era to take cost.
Hoyer mentioned after Pelosi’s remarks that “it is the time for a new generation of leaders” and that he may also step down from management however keep in Congress. Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress, has mentioned he expects to remain in Congress subsequent 12 months and hopes to stay on the management desk.
Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California have equally moved as a trio, all working towards turning into the following era of leaders. Jeffries might make historical past sooner or later if Democrats regain management, and he enters the race to change into the nation’s first Black speaker of the House.
First elected in 1987, Pelosi was amongst a dozen Democratic ladies in Congress. She was lengthy ridiculed by Republicans as a San Francisco liberal whereas steadily rising as a talented legislator and fundraising powerhouse. Her personal Democratic colleagues have intermittently appreciated but additionally feared her highly effective model of management.
Pelosi first turned speaker in 2007, saying she had cracked the “marble ceiling,” after Democrats swept to energy within the 2006 midterm elections in a backlash to then-President George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When she was poised in 2018 to return as speaker, within the Trump period, she vowed “to show the power of the gavel.”
Pelosi has repeatedly withstood management challenges through the years and had prompt in 2018 she would serve 4 extra years as chief. But she had not mentioned these plans extra lately.
Typically unsentimental, Pelosi let present a uncommon second of emotion on the eve of the midterm elections as she held again tears discussing the grave assault on her husband of almost 60 years.
Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured cranium after an intruder broke into their residence within the center the night time looking for the Democratic chief. The intruder’s query — “Where is Nancy?” — echoed the chants of the pro-Trump rioters on the Capitol as they hunted for Pelosi and tried to cease Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
David DePape is being held with out bail on tried homicide and different costs in what authorities mentioned was a political assault.
Historians have famous that different consequential political figures had careers later as rank-and-file members of Congress, together with John Quincy Adams, the previous president, who went on to serve for almost 18 years in Congress.
___ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”