Nancy Pelosi's 'old school' career in Congress, from Obamacare to impeachment
Pelosi chose a high point to announce her departure, two days after California voters cleared the way for new congressional districts in an effort to oust five Republican incumbents.
Agree with her policies or not Pelosi was one of most consequential legislative leaders since Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn
The former House speaker retires still holding the record as the most powerful woman in the history of the United States. While former vice president Kamala Harris ranked one step closer in succession to the presidency, she never wielded the political and policy muscle that Pelosi did during two stints as the highest-ranking official in one of the three co-equal branches of government.
"Article One," she liked to remind, citing Congress' primacy of place in the Constitution − ahead of the Executive branch, established by Article Two.
First elected to Congress in 1987. She is now 85.
Pelosi told me she seriously contemplated announcing her retirement once the 2016 election had put the first woman, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the White House.
Instead, Republican Donald Trump unexpectedly won that race and fueled her determination to stay. She would press impeachment proceedings against him − twice. In 2020, she was so enraged by his State of the Union address that after it was over she stood behind him and theatrically ripped her copy of it to shreds.
A year later, some in the Jan. 6 mob that assaulted the Capitol, trying to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss, targeted her, shouting "Where are you, Nancy," and "all we want is Pelosi."
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