Nancy Patricia Pelosi (/pəˈloʊsi/; née D'Alesandro; born March 26, 1940) is an American Democratic Party politician serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since January 2019, the only woman to have done so. First elected to Congress in 1987, she is the highest-ranking elected woman in United States history.[2] As Speaker of the House, she is second in the presidential line of succession, immediately after the vice president.[3]
Pelosi is currently in her 17th term as a congresswoman, representing California's 12th congressional district (since 2013), which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco. She initially represented the 5th district (1987–1993), and then, when district boundaries were redrawn after the 1990 Census, the 8th district (1993–2013). She has led House Democrats since 2003 (the first woman to lead a party in Congress), serving twice each as speaker (2007–2011 and 2019–present) and as House minority leader (2003–2007 and 2011–2019) depending upon whether Democrats or Republicans held the majority; she has also served as House minority whip (2002–2003).
Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush Administration's 2005 attempt to privatize Social Security. During her first speakership, she was instrumental in the passage of many landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, along with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 2010 Tax Relief Act, which served as economic stimulus amidst the Great Recession.
In the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats won control of the House.[4] Afterward, when the 116th Congress convened on January 3, 2019, Pelosi was elected speaker for the second time,[5] becoming the first former speaker to return to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955.[6] On September 24, 2019, Pelosi announced the start of impeachment hearings into Donald Trump.[7][8]
