Pelosi steps down as Speaker

The top Democrat also vacates her party post to allow a new generation to lead.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the trailblazing first woman to wield the Speaker’s gavel in the United States House of Representatives, has announced she will step down as party leader when Republicans take control of the chamber in January.

“I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said in an emotional speech on the House floor Thursday. “The hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus.”

The 82-year-old Pelosi’s departure from party leadership marks the end of an era in Washington and comes after Republicans secured a slim House majority in last week’s midterm elections.

Democratic President Joe Biden hailed Pelosi as a “fierce defender of democracy” and the “most consequential” House Speaker in US history.

“Because of Nancy Pelosi, the lives of millions and millions of Americans are better, even in districts represented by Republicans who voted against her bills and too often vilify her,” Biden said in a statement.

“History will also note her fierceness and resolve to protect our democracy from the violent, deadly insurrection of January 6,” when supporters of former president Donald Trump attacked the US Capitol, he said.

Elected to Congress in 1987, Pelosi became Speaker in 2007, the first and so far only woman ever to hold the powerful post.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE WORKERS repair a gate after it was rammed by an armored vehicle of the South African Police Service during a raid at a house in Bryanston, Johannesburg to arrest a 46-year old Israeli fugitive, who has been on Interpo's red notice since 2015. The ‘fugitive has been arrested together with seven others.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE OUTGOING United States Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, speaks in the House Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.