US leader Pelosi is retiring

People

US leader Pelosi is retiring

Nancy Pelosi has been a member of the US Congress for almost 40 years. There will be new elections in 2026 – and the 85-year-old Democrat no longer wants to run.

The top US politician Nancy Pelosi has announced her withdrawal from Congress. She had the privilege of representing San Francisco in the House of Representatives for decades, the 85-year-old Democrat said in a video message on Platform

In 2026, all seats in the House of Representatives will be up for election in the congressional elections. Pelosi has represented San Francisco there since 1987. Pelosi’s decision is likely to trigger a struggle within the Democrats for the successor in the traditionally firmly Democratic constituency. Her term ends in 2027.

Pelosi was the Speaker of the House of Representatives for many years – the first woman to hold this office. She was considered an important ally of President Joe Biden, but recently also expressed criticism when his political future was discussed in the party before the 2024 presidential election campaign.

Pelosi also often made headlines with her sharp criticism of US President Donald Trump – for example in February 2020, when she demonstratively tore up the manuscript of the address after his State of the Union speech in Congress. At the time, she was sitting behind Trump in her role as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Republican responded to her decision not to run again with appropriate words. “Nancy Pelosi’s departure is a great thing for America,” US broadcaster Fox News quoted him as saying. Pelosi is “evil, corrupt,” and has focused “only on bad things for our country.”