Pelosi won’t seek reelection to Congress in 2026

Ending months of speculation and clearing the way for a new generation of representation, Congressmember Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection to the House of Representatives next year. Her decision opens the door to an expensive race to replace her, with two candidates already in the race and more expected.

The first woman to serve as speaker of the House, Pelosi will end a 20-term career in Congress when she leaves office in early 2027. She has been a frequent and vocal critic of President Donald Trump and frequently sparred with him during his first term when she led the House and now during his second term.

Pelosi, 85, announced her decision in video that was posted to social media.

Thank you, San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/OP8ubeFzR6

— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) November 6, 2025

“I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your representative,” Pelosi said in a video that featured highlights of her career.

Among those highlights was being an architect of the Affordable Care Act, and pushing for the end of the military’s homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), announced last month that he would be running for Pelosi’s seat next year. Wiener had opened and exploratory committee in 2023 and, up until his announcement, said he would not run for the seat until Pelosi decided to retire. But in an October 20 phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Wiener explained his calculus about seeking the seat had changed due to several factors. One being the emergence already of a serious challenger for Pelosi’s seat and the onslaught of undemocratic stances and policies being taken by the Trump administration.

That challenger is Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy software engineer who formerly served as chief of staff to Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).

San Francisco District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents the Richmond, is also rumored to be interested in the seat.

In a statement, Wiener thanked Pelosi for her decades of service.

“Speaker Emerita Pelosi is more than a legislator – she is an icon of American politics,” Wiener stated. “She led the fight for health care and obliterated Trump when he tried to repeal it. She passed two economic recovery packages, financial reform, and the biggest investment in climate action in history. She wasn’t just a speaker of the House – she was the greatest Speaker in United States history.”

Wiener noted Pelosi’s work on behalf of the LGBTQ community.

“Her finest moments were spent fighting for the marginalized, which she has done with a fearlessness rarely seen in politics,” he stated. “At the height of the AIDS crisis, when so many others wanted to push LGBTQ people under the rug, Nancy Pelosi fought proudly for us to be treated with dignity. In her first remarks on the House floor in 1987, she announced that she had come to Congress to fight AIDS. That same year, a closeted gay teen with a name like a hotdog finally admitted to himself he was gay. It was a terrifying time to come of age as a gay man, and Nancy Pelosi stepped up and used her voice and platform to fight for people like me. I will be eternally grateful to her. Nancy Pelosi’s spirit continues to inspire me and so many others to continue that fight in the face of extreme bigotry today.”

Chakrabarti stated that Pelosi’s decision not to seek reelection was a “powerful act of leadership that clears the way for a new generation of Democrats to take on the urgent challenges facing the country.”

“Thank you, Speaker Emerita Pelosi, for your decades of service that defined a generation of politics and for doing something truly rare in Washington: making room for the next one,” stated Chakrabarti. “Our campaign is ready to build on that legacy by fighting to create a San Francisco and an America that works for everyone.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights organization, praised Pelosi.

“There will never be another Nancy Pelosi – she is one of one,” stated Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, a queer Black woman, “Throughout her career, Speaker Emerita Pelosi has remained a tireless champion for LGBTQ+ equality and worked alongside LGBTQ+ advocates to pass historic legislation that expanded access to health care, protected marriage equality, honored Matthew Shepard with federal hate crimes protections and ended ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Her steel spine, allyship and keen insight have served as powerful tools in our shared fight for progress and we are grateful for her unwavering commitment to our community.”

Shepard was the gay Wyoming college student who was savagely beaten in 1998. President Barak Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2009.

Pelosi earned a lifetime score of nearly 100% on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard, the organization noted. During her tenures as speaker of the House, from 2007-2011 and 2019-2023, the LGBTQ+ community saw more legislative progress than under any previous speaker, stated HRC.

In 2021, the Pelosi-led House passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal marriage equality by guaranteeing the federal rights, benefits and obligations of marriages in the federal code; repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and affirming that public acts, records and proceedings should be recognized by all states.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, who formerly served in Congress alongside Pelosi for many years, stated that she shattered a political glass ceiling.

"My longtime colleague and partner in service, Nancy Pelosi, has announced she will not seek reelection after nearly 40 years of historic leadership representing San Francisco,” Lee stated. “For decades, I had the privilege of serving alongside Nancy as her congressional neighbor, working together on our shared values for San Francisco, the State of California, our country, and the world. As the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy shattered barriers and opened doors for women across the country. She never let us forget the work we were doing was for the children and our future. As she prepares for her final year in Congress, she leaves a standard of principled leadership that will endure. I know this next chapter of her life will continue to be filled with joy and more time with her husband Paul and her beautiful family.”

Pelosi had more than $1.5 million in her campaign account as of July 1. Speculation on when she will retire from Congress have swirled around her for years, picking up steam after her husband, Paul, was severely assaulted by an intruder to their Pacific Heights home in 2022, and more recently with talk that her oldest daughter, Christine, 59, will run to succeed her in the House.

Updated, 11/6/25: This article has been updated with comments from Saikat Chakrabarti, a candidate for the seat now held by Pelosi.