Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York has assumed Pelosi’s former role as House Democratic leader, while Senator Chuck Schumer, 74, continues as the party leader in that chamber.
While there are tensions between Jeffries, 55, and more liberal Democrats, he is expected to be the likely choice for speaker if the party does capture control of the House.
“Nancy Pelosi is an iconic, legendary, transformational figure who has done so many things over so many years to make life better for so many people,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Monday when asked about Pelosi’s 2026 intentions.
During her tenure, Pelosi gained a reputation as a defender of human rights and an early advocate of gay rights at a time when AIDS swept through the world and especially her hometown of San Francisco in the 1980s and beyond.
It was her work in helping then-President Barack Obama win enactment of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” that she sees as her greatest accomplishment.
Healthcare, she told reporters in 2022, “became our big issue and that will be the biggest thing that I’ve ever done in Congress”.
With her looming exit from Washington, Congress is losing an historic figure who many saw as governing with an iron fist as she rushed, at near breakneck speed in her trademark stiletto shoes, from meeting to meeting in the Capitol.
Democrats will also lose a prolific campaign fundraiser.
“I had to raise like a million dollars a day – well at least five days a week,” she once told reporters.
It will also lose a Californian who proudly eschewed the state’s reputation for healthy eating. Pelosi insisted that she ate a hot dog with mustard and relish every day for lunch, plenty of Ghirardelli chocolates and a breakfast that generally included ice cream.
Source: CNA
