Nancy Pelosi announces she’ll seek reelection to House seat next year

(CN) — Nancy Pelosi, who has been representing California's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1987, said Friday she'll run for reelection again next year.

Pelosi, 83, the former House speaker and the first woman at the helm of a major party in Congress, stepped down as leader of the Democrats in the House after the Republican regained the majority in last year's election, leading to some speculation she might leave national politics at the end of her current term as representative for San Francisco.

"Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery," Pelosi said in a statement Friday posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL. That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote."

Democrats lost their House majority in last year's midterm election, though Republican gains were far more modest than the "red wave" that had been predicted.

Pelosi, who served as speaker from 2007 through 2010 and from 2019 through last year, had been a frequent lightning rod for attacks by former President Donald Trump and his devoted supporters.

A victory in the 2024 election is all but guaranteed for Pelosi in her San Francisco district, a liberal bastion where Republicans haven't won since 1949. It would be the 18th time she's won reelection to the House.

Her political future became a matter of speculation not only because of her resignation as House leader. Earlier last year, her husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked and seriously injured by an intruder at the couple's San Francisco home. The intruder told police that he was on a “suicide mission” and planned to take Pelosi hostage and “break her kneecaps” to make her an example to other Democratic lawmakers. 

Paul Pelosi sustained a skull fracture in the attack and underwent surgery for the fracture and other injured limbs. Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time of the attack, protected by her security detail.

Threats against lawmakers and elections officials have been at all-time highs since the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection at the Capitol, and authorities have issued warnings about rising extremism in the U.S.

Pelosi has also become part of a growing number of politicians of advanced age in Washington, whose ranks include the 80-year-old President Joe Biden, as well as Senators Mitch McConnell, 81, and Dianne Feinstein, 90. In particular the apparently shaky health of these two senators has prompted questions about some politicians' desire to prolong their public service for as long as possible.

Feinstein, a Democrat from San Francisco who has served as senator since 1992, earlier this year said she won't seek reelection next year.

Follow @edpettersson

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