Nancy Pelosi, Former Speaker Of The US House Of Representatives Who Tried To Overthrow Trump Will Retire From Congress

JAKARTA - Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Chair of the United States (US) House of Representatives (DPR) confirmed that she would not run for Congress in 2026.

This decision ended a four-decade career of a progressive Democratic icon who was often ridiculed by right-handed people.

The 85-year-old congressman, who was first elected in 1987, made his announcement two days after voters in California on Tuesday voted in the majority agreeing to "Proposition 50," an attempt to reorganize the state district aimed at handing five seats in the House of Representatives to Democrats in a part-time election next year.

"I will not run for re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to the last year of my term of service," Pelosi said in a video posted on X.

California's acceptance of "Proposition 50" is a response to Texas's similar move to increase Republican opportunities.

This political strategy was spearheaded by the Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, but is just under Pelosi's control.

He has been at the forefront of the struggle for control of the House of Representatives and particularly in dealing with Republican Donald Trump, who clashed with him during his first presidential term from 2017-2020.

Pelosi's retirement followed years of young Democrats who were annoyed that seniors defended their positions and did not do enough to nurture future leaders.

This was most evident in the summer of 2024 when the 81-year-old Democrat President, Joe Biden, was caught up in his debate with Trump, weeks before finally resigning from his candidacy, partly due to pressure from fellow Democrats, including Pelosi.

In a round table interview in 2022, Pelosi was asked by Reuters if he had any regrets in his career, including the deepening grudges and divisions that hit the House of Representatives.

He said he hoped to win more elections to silence Republican rule and "to ensure a figure like Donald Trump has never been president of the United States."

Pelosi did twice try to overthrow Trump from power, through impeachment by the House of Representatives in late 2019 and early 2021, but was later released by the Senate from the Republican Party.

The hostilities between Pelosi and Trump were so deep that they overflowed into the presidential state speech in 2020, when Trump refused to take office when he arrived in the House of Representatives courtroom.

Pelosi, in turn, stood at the end of Trump's speech and dramatically torn up copies of the speech's print to two, then said he did it because each page contained "lies."

Republicans in 2021 expressed anger at Pelosi when he rejected their recommendation to appoint Trump's two loyal supporters on a special committee investigating Trump's role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol Building.

"The Republican Party will not engage in their deception process and will continue our own investigation into the facts," said Kevin McCarthy, who was then the Leader of the DPR Minority.

Although Pelosi accepted partisan clashes as part of his work, growing anger in US politics impacted his family in 2022, when a far-right conspiracy theorist broke into his home in San Francisco and hit her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.