Pelosi to Step Down From Democratic Leadership
In her speech, Ms. Pelosi recounted the arc of her career — “homemaker to House speaker,” she said — as well as major legislative accomplishments. She also addressed the fragility of the nation’s 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’s loss. But, she added, voters “stood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy” last week by rejecting candidates who continued to cast doubt on the 2020 election.
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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 — a moment reminiscent of her swearing-in as speaker, when she called all the children present in the chamber to the dais.
Ms. Pelosi’s decision came after her husband, Paul, was brutally attacked in their San Francisco home late last month by a hammer-wielding assailant who was said to have been planning to kidnap and assault the speaker herself. Ms. Pelosi and her security detail were not at home at the time.
By staying in Congress, Ms. Pelosi could remain an influence and a guide for the new generation of Democrats who are expected to rise into the senior leadership ranks with her departure from the top job.
In a statement released after Ms. Pelosi’s speech, President Biden said history would remember her as “the most consequential speaker of the House of Representatives in our history.”
“There 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,” he said. “In everything she does, she reflects a dignity in her actions and a dignity she sees in the lives of the people of this nation.”
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 the party — and earned the respect of many Republicans — 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.
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