Pelosi says she’s running because she ‘needed to be able to still raise significant money’

Rep. Nancy Pelosi told a reporter Friday that she’s mainly running for office to raise money for herself and other Democrats.

Speaking with outlet Politico, the 83-year-old representative from California said her veteran status in Congress is a major asset for raising funds.

“My focus is the House and presidency; you’re in a stronger position as a candidate,” Pelosi told Politico in the interview. “You may not know this, but if you’re not a candidate, you really can’t raise money for yourself. And raising money for myself enables me to spend that on other people.”

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“For the House Democrats, though, I needed to be able to still raise significant money for them as a candidate,” she added.

Pelosi declared her candidacy for her state’s 11th Congressional District representing San Francisco in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. It would be her 20th term in the House of Representatives.

She told the outlet Friday that she has been invigorated by the 2024 election cycle and prospect of taking back the House — and perhaps defeating former President Donald Trump, whom she would not address by name.

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“I feel so excited about the prospect of engaging people in this, I don’t want to use the word ‘fight,’ but this decision for our country,” she said. “I feel I have a leverage, an influence, it’s not power — you know, I had power as speaker — it’s influence and that I shouldn’t underutilize it.”

Pelosi said her decision to run again for office has the full support of her husband.

“I wouldn’t be doing it if he were objecting,” she said. “He’s apolitical, but he knows what is at stake.”

First elected to Congress in 1987, the Democratic leader made history becoming the first female speaker in 2007, and in 2019 she regained the speaker’s gavel.

Pelosi stepped down from serving as leader of the House Democratic Caucus last year, passing the torch to current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. She now serves among the rank-and-file, though Democratic lawmakers have dubbed her as “Speaker Emerita” out of respect for her more-than-35-year tenure in the House.

Her announcement puts to rest any suggestion of retirement, though it comes amid concerns over the advanced age of numerous elected officials, including octogenarian Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and President Biden, who is 80.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.