Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Patricia Pelosi was born on March 26, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, into one of the most political families in the city’s history. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., served five terms as Baltimore’s mayor and as a Maryland congressman; her brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, was also mayor of Baltimore. She graduated from Trinity College in Washington in 1962, married Paul Pelosi in 1963, raised five children in San Francisco, and built a career in California Democratic Party politics over the following two decades, chairing the California Democratic Party from 1981 to 1983. In 1987 she won a special election to represent San Francisco in Congress and has held that seat continuously for nearly four decades.

Pelosi’s rise through House leadership was methodical. She became House majority Whip in 2002 and Minority Leader in 2003 — the first woman to lead a party in either chamber of Congress. When Democrats won the House majority in the 2006 midterms, she was elected Speaker: the first woman in American history to hold the position. Her first speakership (2007–2011) produced its defining legislative achievement in the Affordable Care Act, passed March 2010 under the most difficult circumstances. After Democrats lost the House in 2010’s Tea Party wave, Pelosi returned to Minority Leader, rebuilt the caucus, and recaptured the majority in 2018. She was elected Speaker a second time in January 2019 and presided over both Trump impeachments. She stepped down from leadership in January 2023, handing the gavel to Hakeem Jeffries.

Pelosi remains in the House as a member but without a formal leadership position. She continues to be one of the Democratic Party’s most prolific fundraisers — raising hundreds of millions for Democratic candidates over her career — and a trusted counsel to party leadership on matters of legislative strategy. Her successor Jeffries has led with a notably different style: where Pelosi was known for iron discipline and insider deal-making, Jeffries’ approach is more outward-facing and communicatively aggressive. Both approaches have their contexts; Pelosi’s was ideally suited to the legislative era she dominated.

Few figures illustrate American partisan polarization as vividly as Nancy Pelosi. Among Democrats she is regarded as a legislative virtuoso — a Speaker who delivered results that multiple predecessors could not, most notably the ACA — and as a trailblazer for women in leadership. Among Republicans she has been the premier fundraising villain for two decades, appearing in thousands of attack ads and serving as a reliable mobilizing force for conservative donors. Her national net approval has ranged from roughly −5% to −15% in recent years, reflecting near-universal name recognition and partisan sorting rather than genuine disapproval of her legislative record.

The moment that defined her public image for a generation came on February 4, 2020. At the conclusion of Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, Pelosi tore her printed copy of his speech in half on live national television, standing directly behind and above the president. The image was replayed millions of times. Pelosi described the speech as “a manifesto of mistruths.” Trump had declined to shake her hand at the start of the evening. Her response to January 6th — coordinating evacuation of Congress, communicating directly with military leadership about her concerns, and driving the second impeachment through the House within one week — is regarded by historians as consequential crisis management under acute pressure.

She handed power to Hakeem Jeffries in January 2023 after 20 years in leadership. Jeffries, at 52, represents a generational shift: younger, more diverse, Brooklyn-raised rather than San Francisco donor-class. Pelosi’s institutional legacy — the coalition she built, the fundraising infrastructure she created, the procedural discipline she imposed — will shape the House Democratic caucus well beyond her active service.