{"id":14113,"date":"2022-11-18T02:09:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T10:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=14113"},"modified":"2022-11-19T02:33:16","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T10:33:16","slug":"pelosi-steps-aside-signaling-end-to-historic-run-as-top-house-democrat-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=14113","title":{"rendered":"“Pelosi Steps Aside, Signaling End to Historic Run as Top House Democrat”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Carl Hulse, front page print edition, Nov. 18, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,\u201d Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. She has led her party in the House for two decades.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Members of Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s staff applauding her after she announced that she would step down from her leadership position on Capitol Hill.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Follow the latest news on <\/em>Nancy Pelosi stepping down from leadership<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Nancy Pelosi, the dominant political operator, legislative tactician and face of House Democrats for two decades, and the first woman to serve as speaker, announced on Thursday that she would leave the leadership ranks in January following narrow election losses that cost Democrats their majority, but would remain in Congress.<\/p>\n

Ms. Pelosi, the Californian who twice led Democrats to power in the House and has been a central figure in the major legislative accomplishments of the Obama and Biden administrations, disclosed her plans in a carefully choreographed midday speech on the House floor a day after Republicans clinched control of the chamber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,\u201d Ms. Pelosi said as some of her colleagues wiped tears from their eyes. \u201cAnd I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her decision represented a transformative moment for House Democrats, and it set off a rapid and long-anticipated shift in the top ranks of Democratic leadership \u2014 now dominated by a trio of octogenarians \u2014 toward a younger group that has been waiting in the wings.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Pelosi said she had considered leaving leadership in the past but was driven to help her party through this election following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Al Drago for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Shortly after Ms. Pelosi, 82, concluded her remarks, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the 83-year-old majority leader, said in a letter to his colleagues that he too would refrain from seeking a leadership position in the next Congress. He endorsed Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, 52, to be the next Democratic leader, throwing his support to a lawmaker who is widely regarded as Ms. Pelosi\u2019s likeliest successor.<\/p>\n

The No. 3 Democrat, Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, 82, was expected to cede the position of whip and seek to become the assistant leader, according to people familiar with the plans who spoke about them on the condition of anonymity because they had yet to be announced.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jeffries and Representatives Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, 59, and Pete Aguilar of California, 43, were widely expected to seek the top three spots.<\/p>\n

Ms. Pelosi, in an interview with reporters after her speech, said she did not intend to endorse any successor, saying it was \u201creally important for people to have the legitimacy that they were chosen by the members and they make their own, shall we say, prioritizing issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will have their vision,\u201d she said. \u201cThey will have their plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ms. Pelosi pledged in 2018 to limit herself to four more years as her party\u2019s leader, but had recently equivocated about whether she would honor that.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Her carefully calculated departure reflected the tight grip she has maintained on House Democrats over decades, rarely ceding control to her colleagues, brooking little dissent and leaving few things to chance.<\/p>\n

The Aftermath of the 2022 Midterm Elections<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A moment of reflection. <\/strong>In the aftermath of the midterms, Democrats and Republicans face key questions<\/a>\u00a0about the future of their parties. With the House<\/a>\u00a0and Senate<\/a>\u00a0now decided, here\u2019s where things stand:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Biden\u2019s tough choice. <\/strong>President Biden, who had the best midterms of any president in 20 years<\/a>\u00a0as Democrats maintained a narrow hold on the Senate<\/a>,\u00a0feels buoyant after the results. But as he nears his 80th birthday, he confronts a decision<\/a>\u00a0on whether to run again.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Is Trump\u2019s grip loosening? <\/strong>Ignoring Republicans\u2019 concerns<\/a>\u00a0that he was to blame for the party\u2019s weak midterms showing, Donald J. Trump announced his third bid for the presidency<\/a>. But some of his staunchest allies are already inching away from him<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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G.O.P leaders face dissent. <\/strong>After a poor midterms performance, Representative Kevin McCarthy<\/a>\u00a0and Senator Mitch McConnell<\/a>\u00a0faced threats to their power<\/a>\u00a0from an emboldened right flank. Will the divisions in the party\u2019s ranks make the G.O.P.-controlled House an unmanageable mess<\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A new era for House Democrats. <\/strong>Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve in the post and the face of House Democrats for two decades, will not pursue a leadership<\/a>\u00a0post in the next Congress. A trio of new leaders<\/a>\u00a0is poised to take over their caucus\u2019s top ranks.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Divided government. <\/strong>What does a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-run Senate mean for the next two years? Most likely a return to the gridlock and brinkmanship<\/a>\u00a0that have defined a divided federal government in recent years.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms. Pelosi\u2019s announcement heralded the end of a historic leadership run for a woman who had learned the nitty-gritty of politics from her family in Baltimore, where her father was a congressman and later mayor. She rose to prominence in California as the leader of the state party; at 47, after being a stay-at-home mother to five children, won election to the House from San Francisco; and finally became the determined force at the helm of House Democrats.<\/p>\n

With her in a leadership role, Democrats challenged President George W. Bush over the Iraq war and his plan to privatize Social Security, and won approval of President Barack Obama\u2019s Affordable Care Act, her greatest legislative achievement, in 2010. She helped steer the nation through a grave economic crisis in 2008, and this year finished her leadership stint by passing legacy-building climate change legislation.<\/p>\n

Her tenure was not without its difficulties. She lost her gavel the first time in the midterm elections of 2010, when severe losses cost her party the House majority, and some Democrats urged her to step aside; she ran for leader anyway<\/a>, and won. When she returned to the speakership in 2018, she sometimes clashed with a newly elected group of progressive women of color<\/a> who chafed under her leadership and suggested her time had come and gone.<\/p>\n

Over her many years atop her party, Ms. Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American politics, became a favorite target for Republicans, who demonized and dehumanized her in increasingly ugly terms<\/a>. During her remarks on Thursday in the House chamber, there was standing room only on the Democratic side, but only a few Republicans were on hand to listen to her.<\/p>\n

Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, attended along with some newly elected G.O.P. members. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, who is seeking to succeed her as speaker, skipped it, while some other G.O.P. lawmakers took the opportunity to gloat publicly that their efforts to \u201cFire Pelosi\u201d had succeeded.<\/p>\n

In her speech, Ms. Pelosi recounted the arc of her career \u2014 \u201cfrom homemaker to House speaker,\u201d she said \u2014 as well as her major legislative accomplishments. She also addressed the fragility of the nation\u2019s democracy as she recalled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, carried out by an angry mob who rejected the results of the 2020 election and President Donald J. Trump\u2019s loss. But, she added, voters \u201cstood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy\u201d last week by rejecting candidates who continued to cast doubt on the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

In a statement released after Ms. Pelosi\u2019s speech, President Biden said history would remember her as \u201cthe most consequential speaker of the House of Representatives in our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Pelosi pledged in 2018 to limit herself to four more years as her party\u2019s leader, but had recently equivocated, and had been quietly gauging her support within Democratic ranks. Several of her colleagues had privately noted that Ms. Pelosi was unlikely to seek to stay in her position if she found she did not have the votes to do so, and equally unlikely to leave if she believed she had the backing to hold on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

But Ms. Pelosi insisted she would have had the support to remain if she had opted to; she said her phone had been \u201cexploding\u201d with calls from her colleagues urging her to stay as their leader, but that she had chosen otherwise. The decision came less than three weeks after her husband, Paul Pelosi, was brutally attacked in their San Francisco home by a hammer-wielding assailant who was said to have been planning to kidnap and assault the speaker herself.<\/p>\n

Though she will remain in the House, the outgoing speaker also said she did not plan to peer over the shoulders of the new leaders and offer advice, as some people close to her had speculated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no intention of being the mother-in-law in the kitchen saying, \u2018My son doesn\u2019t like this thing this way,\u2019\u201d said Ms. Pelosi, who said she would focus her energy instead on representing the city that had first sent her to the House in 1987.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to afford myself the joy of being able to deal with the needs of the people of San Francisco,\u201d she added during the interview.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Pelosi\u2019s announcement heralded the end of a historic leadership run for a woman who had learned the nitty-gritty of politics from her family in Baltimore, where her father was a congressman and later mayor. She rose to prominence in California as the leader of the state party; at 47, after being a stay-at-home mother to five children, won election to the House from San Francisco; and finally became the determined force at the helm of House Democrats.<\/p>\n

With her in a leadership role, Democrats challenged President George W. Bush over the Iraq war and his plan to privatize Social Security, and won approval of President Barack Obama\u2019s Affordable Care Act, her greatest legislative achievement, in 2010. She helped steer the nation through a grave economic crisis in 2008, and this year finished her leadership stint by passing legacy-building climate change legislation.<\/p>\n

Her tenure was not without its difficulties. She lost her gavel the first time in the midterm elections of 2010, when severe losses cost her party the House majority, and some Democrats urged her to step aside; she ran for leader anyway<\/a>, and won. When she returned to the speakership in 2018, she sometimes clashed with a newly elected group of progressive women of color<\/a> who chafed under her leadership and suggested her time had come and gone.<\/p>\n

Over her many years atop her party, Ms. Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American politics, became a favorite target for Republicans, who demonized and dehumanized her in increasingly ugly terms<\/a>. During her remarks on Thursday in the House chamber, there was standing room only on the Democratic side, but only a few Republicans were on hand to listen to her.<\/p>\n

Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, attended along with some newly elected G.O.P. members. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, who is seeking to succeed her as speaker, skipped it, while some other G.O.P. lawmakers took the opportunity to gloat publicly that their efforts to \u201cFire Pelosi\u201d had succeeded.<\/p>\n

In her speech, Ms. Pelosi recounted the arc of her career \u2014 \u201cfrom homemaker to House speaker,\u201d she said \u2014 as well as her major legislative accomplishments. She also addressed the fragility of the nation\u2019s democracy as she recalled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, carried out by an angry mob who rejected the results of the 2020 election and President Donald J. Trump\u2019s loss. But, she added, voters \u201cstood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy\u201d last week by rejecting candidates who continued to cast doubt on the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

In a statement released after Ms. Pelosi\u2019s speech, President Biden said history would remember her as \u201cthe most consequential speaker of the House of Representatives in our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are countless examples of how she embodies the obligation of elected officials to uphold their oath to God and country to ensure our democracy delivers and remains a beacon to the world,\u201d he said. \u201cIn everything she does, she reflects a dignity in her actions and a dignity she sees in the lives of the people of this nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the interview, Ms. Pelosi said she had considered leaving the leadership ranks in the past but had been driven to help her party in this election following the assault on the Capitol and the spread of election denialism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was important to me was how we did in the election, because we were really on a bad path,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Pelosi with Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York and other Democratic lawmakers after her speech. <\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms. Pelosi was for years the focus of bitter attacks from Republicans who used her as a symbol of liberal Democratic ideology. But she was revered within her own party \u2014 and earned the respect of many Republicans \u2014 for her leadership skills, steadiness in times of crisis, political acumen and, not least, a formidable ability to tap donors for hundreds of millions of dollars. Aides calculated that she had raised $310 million this election cycle for her party and a total of nearly $1.3 billion during her 20 years in leadership.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Mr. McCarthy offered no comment on Ms. Pelosi\u2019s announcement, though his staff noted that they expected<\/a> that her final act as speaker would be to hand him the gavel in January, as is tradition in a handover of power in the House.<\/p>\n

But Ms. Pelosi, who has made little secret of her disdain for Mr. McCarthy<\/a>, said she would leave that task to the Democrat chosen to replace her as party leader.<\/p>\n

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Some Republicans offered statements of respect for Ms. Pelosi, but minutes after she concluded her remarks, Derrick Van Orden, an incoming Republican congressman from Wisconsin who rallied at the Capitol on Jan. 6, tweeted a photo of himself on the campaign trail holding a sign that said \u201cFIRE PELOSI.\u201d \u201cPromises Made. Promises Kept,\u201d Mr. Van Orden wrote.<\/p>\n

As Ms. Pelosi closed her remarks, House members rose to give her a standing ovation. She was swarmed by colleagues kissing her on the cheek and giving her hugs, and embraced a young girl who was in the chamber for her speech \u2014 a moment reminiscent of her swearing-in as speaker, when she called all the children present in the chamber to the dais.<\/p>\n

She made it clear that she and her family have struggled to deal with the effects of the attack on Mr. Pelosi, which she noted had turned her residence into a crime scene. She said she believed that public disgust at the attack swung voters to Democratic candidates on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe traumatic effect of that being in our home has had such an impact on my husband and me, but also on our children and grandchildren,\u201d she said, expressing fury at Republicans and others for making light of the incident.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Pelosi was first woman to hold the speakership and the face of the chamber\u2019s Democrats for two decades.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cJust think if your spouse were in a situation where other people would make a joke of it, think it was funny,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so horrible to think the Republican Party has come down to this, and no real rejection of it by anybody in the party. It\u2019s so sad for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than leading her to consider leaving Congress entirely, Ms. Pelosi said the attack had fortified her decision to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t give them that satisfaction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Carl Hulse is chief Washington correspondent and a veteran of more than three decades of reporting in the capital.<\/em><\/p>\n

Midterm Elections<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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