WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nancy Pelosi, a towering figure in US politics and the first woman to serve as speaker of the House of Representatives, announced on Thursday that she will step down at the next election.

Admired as a master strategist with a no-nonsense leadership style that delivered consistently for her party, the 85-year-old Democrat shepherded historic legislation through Congress as she navigated America’s bitter partisan divide.

In later years, she became a key foe of President Donald Trump, twice leading his impeachment and stunning Washington in 2020 when images of her ripping up his speech to Congress were beamed on live television around the world.

“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” she said in a video statement pointedly aimed at her hometown constituents.

“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”

Pelosi — whose term ends in January 2027 — was the first woman to lead a major political party in the US Congress.

Despite entering political office later in life, she quickly rose through the ranks to become a darling of liberal West Coast politics and, eventually, one of the most powerful women in US history.

She is in her 19th term and has represented her San Francisco-area district for 38 years. But her fame centers especially on her renowned skills at the national level, leading her party for two decades.

As House speaker for eight years, she was second in line to the presidency, after the vice president, including during Trump’s chaotic first term.

She was revered for her ability to corral her often fractious caucus through difficult votes, including Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act and Joe Biden’s infrastructure programs.

Republicans painted her as the driving force behind a liberal elite that had turned its back on American values and was undermining the social fabric.

– ‘No greater honor’ –
The granddaughter of Italian immigrants, Pelosi was born in Baltimore where her father, Thomas D’Alesandro, was a mayor and congressman who schooled her in “retail politics” from a young age and staunchly backed Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Pelosi attended her first Democratic National Convention before hitting her teens and was pictured with John F. Kennedy at his inaugural ball when she was 20.

She moved to San Francisco and raised five children with businessman Paul Pelosi while delving into Democratic politics before being elected to Congress at age 47.

“Nancy Pelosi will be recorded as the greatest speaker in American history, the result of her tenacity, intellect, strategic acumen and fierce advocacy,” said Adam Schiff, a colleague in the California House delegation before he moved up to the Senate.

A San Francisco liberal and multimillionaire, Pelosi is far from universally popular.

Her status as a hate figure for the right was brought in stark relief when an intruder, apparently looking for the speaker, violently assaulted her husband in the runup to the 2022 midterm elections.

And during the 2021 assault on the US Capitol, supporters of then-president Trump ransacked her office, and a crowd baying for blood chanted “Where’s Nancy?” as they desecrated the halls of Congress.

Pelosi moved quickly after that to secure the second impeachment of Trump, whom she called the “deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States.”

Her legislative achievements include steering through Obama’s key health care reforms as well as massive economic packages after both the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I say to my colleagues in the House all the time, no matter what title they have bestowed upon me — speaker, leader, whip — there has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, I speak for the people of San Francisco,” Pelosi said.