How Nancy Pelosi went from San Francisco housewife to the most powerful woman in US politics

Pelosi grew up in Baltimore, the daughter of the Democratic Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. As a young girl, she managed her father's book of people who owed him political favors.

Source: U.S. News, Nancy Pelosi Biography

She attended her first Democratic National Convention at age 12. Here she is at age 20 with John F. Kennedy at his inaugural ball.

Source: Nancy Pelosi Biography

Pelosi met her husband, Paul, at Georgetown University. She was a mother of five by 1969, when the family moved to San Francisco. Paul worked as a banker, while Nancy raised their children and started a Democratic Party club at her home.

Source: U.S. News

In 1976, she worked for the presidential campaign of California Gov. Jerry Brown, and by 1981, she was the Democratic Party chair for the state of California, working behind the scenes to recruit candidates and raise money in the left-leaning state.

At age 47, after her youngest child had left for college, Pelosi was encouraged by a dying congresswoman to run for her seat. She threw 100 house parties, recruited 4,000 volunteers, and raised $1 million in seven weeks.

Source: Baltimore Sun

She defeated a San Francisco supervisor in a special election, winning one of the most solidly Democratic seats in the country. In June 1978, she was sworn in with her father by her side.

With innate political acumen, Pelosi rose fast in the Democratic caucus. Here she is with former California Rep. Leon Panetta, who would go on to serve as secretary of Defense and director of the CIA.

Source: AP

One of Pelosi's earliest and most prominent financial backers is E & J Gallo Winery, which produces 25% of the wine in America. The Pelosis own two vineyards in California.

Source: Extra TV

Pelosi knew California Sen. Dianne Feinstein as a neighbor years before they became two of the most powerful women in Congress. Here they are hanging out after Feinstein lost the California gubernatorial election in 1990.

As the member of the House from San Francisco, Pelosi took the lead on LGBT rights and the AIDS crisis back when those were unpopular topics nationally.

Source: AP

Pelosi was also one of the House architects behind the 1994 assault-weapons ban, along with Feinstein and then Rep. Chuck Schumer.

Source: AP

Pelosi was on the powerful House Appropriations and Intelligence committees, and was the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Operations committee. Here she is with then Rep. Barney Frank at a 1995 news conference.

Source: SFGate

Here she is promoting public television with a creepy Ernie.

Source: AP

Paul Pelosi has managed to avoid the spotlight, focusing on his real-estate and venture-capital business Financial Leasing Services Inc. He also owns the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League.

Source: SFGate

Pelosi got a big promotion in 2001, when she was named the House Democratic whip, the No. 2 job in party leadership.

After raising $1.8 million for Democrats through her leadership PAC in 2002, Pelosi got the top job when Dick Gephardt stepped down as minority leader. She was the first woman to ever lead a party in Congress.

In 2006, she teamed up with Schumer, then Sen. Harry Reid, and then Rep. Rahm Emanuel to hatch a plan to take back Congress ...

... and it worked. Democrats won the majority in both chambers, and Pelosi became the first woman speaker of the House.

In the first 100 hours of being speaker in 2006, Pelosi raised the minimum wage, enacted the 9/11 commission report, ended many tax subsidies to oil companies, and made new rules about lobbying.

Source: Washington Post

Her work ethic is legendary. She barely sleeps, doesn't drink coffee — she prefers hot water with lemon — does The New York Times crossword daily, and often eats New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream for breakfast.

Source: Extra TV, Nancy Pelosi

During the divisive 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Pelosi managed to stay neutral without losing friends.

Source: AP

And she ran the show at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Source: AP

Pelosi steered the passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bank bailout in a last-ditch effort to stop the 2008 financial collapse.

Source: AP

After Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Democrats controlled Congress and the White House for the first time in 14 years.

Source: AP

Pelosi convinced Obama to move forward with healthcare reform when all seemed lost in 2009. It worked.

Source: AP

But Democrats lost control of the House, and Pelosi handed over the gavel to Republican John Boehner in 2010.

Source: AP

Despite her diminished role, Pelosi was still a major power player in DC, having spent a decade as the top House Democrat.

Pelosi once again became House minority leader and remained a close ally to Obama during his second term.

She led House Democrats through the 2013 shutdown, during which she said Republicans were "legislative arsonists" for using healthcare as an excuse to shut down the government.

Source: The Guardian

In 2016, Rep. Tim Ryan challenged Pelosi's speaker seat, but he lost 134 to 63.

As House minority leader, Pelosi was the most prominent Trump critic in the government. In 2017, she led the House's charge against Trump's decision to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

In response, Trump called her "High Tax, High Crime Nancy Pelosi" and "MS-13 Lover Nancy Pelosi."

Pelosi repeatedly clashed with Trump while he was in office and many of their tense confrontations were televised, including one between her, Trump, and Schumer about Trump's proposed border wall.

Pelosi was sworn in as speaker of the House for a second time after Democrats regained control of the House following the 2018 midterms.

Source: CNN

She regained her position as speaker of the House only eight years after leaving it. Pelosi promised Democrats had legislation prepared to reopen the government, which finally happened on January 25, 2019.

Pelosi presided over the House as it impeached Trump twice — the first on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over the Ukraine scandal, and the second after his supporters stormed the Capitol and attempted to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him both times.

Source: Business Insider

She's also had to mediate controversy within her own caucus, and endure progressive criticism from the left.

Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider

Pelosi was again re-elected to serve as House Speaker by the 117th Congress on January 3, 2021.

Source: Business Insider

After former Trump criticized her over her husband's stock trades, Pelosi said she was open to banning lawmakers from stock trading. She had previously rejected the ban.

Sources: Insider, Insider

But she suggested stricter penalties instead of changing the status quo. "If in fact we should have severer penalties for delays in reporting on the STOCK Act, then do that," she said.

Source: Insider

Pelosi, who is 82 years old, tested positive for COVID-19 in April. Her spokesperson said the House speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted.

Source: Insider

She raised House staffers' minimum salary to $45,000 in May and advocated to let staffers unionize.

Source: Insider

The Speaker's husband, Paul, was arrested over the summer on charges of driving under the influence. He reportedly had a blood-alcohol level above 0.08% when he was arrested in Napa County, California.

Source: Insider

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Pelosi, who has long been an advocate for children's and women's issues, warned that "Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban."

Source: Insider

But she and fellow Democrats also turned the ruling into an election fundraising opportunity for Democratic political committees.

Source: Insider

Pelosi, who is of Catholic faith, reportedly received communion during a Papal mass in Rome. In the US, her pro-abortion rights views led an archbishop in San Francisco to ban her from receiving the sacrament.

Source: Insider

Pelosi's husband, Paul, was attacked in the couple's California home in October by a man who demanded to see the House speaker, then hit Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery and fully recovered.

Source: Insider

Pelosi announced on November 17, 2022 that she would not seek re-election to lead the Democratic party, keeping her 2018 promise to step down from leadership. "The hour has come for a new generation," Pelosi, who will remain as a member of Congress, said on the House floor. Reminiscing on the time she first laid eyes on the Capitol building, as well as her decision to run for office, Pelosi said: "Never had I thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker. In fact, I never intended to run for public office."

Source: Insider

—ABC News (@ABC) November 17, 2022