Even though she no longer has the gavel, Nancy Pelosi still appears to be in the driver’s seat inside the Democratic caucus as the party braces for a second Trump administration.
The 84-year-old Speaker Emerita was viewed as a chief foil for then-President Donald Trump during his first term, where she engaged in tense meetings with him inside the Oval Office or the moment she ripped up a copy of his speech at the end of his State of the Union address in 2020.
Earlier this month, the two-time speaker filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission after winning a 20th term last week. A spokesperson for Pelosi declined to say whether she is running for reelection, but the paperwork is an early indication of her intentions.
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“There were rumors that she would step aside if Harris won so then the Democrats could do their thing, and then stick around if Trump won because, you know, she believes she needs to lead the anti-Trump forces,” said Steve Maviglio, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
There are already signs she is at the center of what will likely be the Trump resistance in the House in the 119th Congress. On a House Democratic Caucus call following the election, Pelosi suggested Democrats replicate the work of a group created during the last Trump administration that focused on defending the Affordable Care Act, according to familiar sources.
The San Francisco mother of five has spent nearly five decades in politics, starting out in California before rising to become the top House Democrat. She was elected speaker of the House in 2007 and assumed the position for a second time in 2019. She stepped aside as the leader of House Democrats in 2022 after losing the House majority to allow a new generation of leaders to rise.
She honored a pledge she made in 2018 to serve just four more years following pressure from Democrats who viewed her as a political liability in their swing districts. The former speaker, however, is still wielding power without a formal leadership title, while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is taking a forward-facing role.
“I think you know her power has always been behind the scenes. She’s never been the headline grabber, the press conference queen,” Maviglio explained. “She makes her moves very subtly, knows what she has to support, and then is able to achieve victory.”
Pelosi played an outsize role in privately urging President Joe Biden to step aside this summer. Many believe if Pelosi had not taken action, the results of the 2024 elections would have been even more costly for down-ballot Democrats.
“If Pelosi had not intervened, Biden would have been our nominee, and he would have lost badly, and perhaps cost us a Senate seat or two more than we suffered, and probably a few House races,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist based in Washington, D.C.
Bannon believes it was best that Pelosi did the dirty work of convincing the sitting president it was best to bow out of the race instead of leaving the job to Jeffries.
“I think because he was the Democratic leader, he didn’t feel it was incumbent upon him to ease Biden out. So I think he left the work to Pelosi,” he said. “I think Jeffries got the desired outcome without his fingerprints all over it. So Pelosi served a useful purpose for the minority leader.”
In addition to losing the White House, Democrats lost four Senate seats and narrowly missed their shot to take back control of the House, even though some were optimistic about their chances. In Pelosi’s home state, Democrats hoped to flip five seats. So far, they have only taken one with two races outstanding. However, Maviglio said he’s optimistic about the Democrat’s chances in the remaining contests.
“She’s always seen the California delegation as her baby, electorally and in terms of legislative achievement,” he explained. “She was heavily involved in a lot of these races and getting money to the right places for the right time, and I think we’re going to end up flipping a couple seats. So I think she deserves a little credit for that too.”
After Democrats lost the White House, the House, the Senate, and even the popular vote, Pelosi pointed the blame squarely at Biden, suggesting the president should have dropped out of the race sooner during an interview with The New York Times days after the election.
“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” she said in the interview. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.”
Pelosi’s post-election analysis didn’t go over well with some inside Democratic circles for publicly airing dirty laundry. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) harshly criticized Pelosi’s interview, frustrated by her public blaming of Biden.
“She really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this, ‘she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer,’” he said in an interview with Politico. “And now she’s blaming Biden. Well, you can’t have it both ways.”
“You got what you wanted, and now you’re still blaming Biden,” he continued. “I think it’s really ironic that you have a woman at age 84, and she is still hanging on. Why not give a younger generation an opportunity to occupy that seat?”
Some Democrats, both inside and outside Congress, have privately aired their frustrations that the former speaker has not relinquished her grip over the party, despite stepping aside two years ago.
“Pelosi is done. She should quit now before completely destroying her legacy. It’s sad to see her go out this way: old, bitter, and desperate for relevance,” said a Democratic source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the situation.
Some members are reportedly frustrated that she is not being respectful of her successor, Jeffries.
“I understand that this is a difficult transition for her, not being the leader, but she is not,” a member of the Congressional Black Caucus told Axios.
That same unnamed member argued: “Hakeem has been tremendously graceful and respectful of her, but I don’t think she is being respectful of him.”
If tension is brewing between past and present leadership, Jeffries and Pelosi are keeping it away from the public eye.
One House Democrat told the Washington Examiner that they have not heard any rumblings between members about any power struggles between Jeffries and Pelosi, and if there was any animosity, it’s been buried.
“We’re so focused on getting ready for January,” the Democrat said when asked if members had any issues with Pelosi’s post-2024 interviews.
In a recent interview on NBC’s Meet the Press last week, Jeffries said he has no issues with Pelosi, and she isn’t undermining his leadership.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi has been incredibly respectful of the entire leadership team,” he said, adding that “it’s an honor to stand on the shoulders” of the first woman speaker in Congress.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who is leaving Congress at the end of the year after losing his reelection bid in a primary, praised Pelosi’s leadership.
“She’s earned the right to go wherever and say whatever she wants. Of course, we always want alignment in terms of messaging and in terms of not undermining the current leadership in Leader Jeffries and others, but Speaker Pelosi is the truth,” Bowman said, speaking to the Washington Examiner.
Bowman called Pelosi an “asset to the party” but also made it clear that a new younger generation must be allowed to flourish.
“The future of the party is Leader Jeffries and Jamaal Bowman, even though I won’t be in Congress anymore, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, so I think that’s the future of the party, so we have to move to the future, and we need a collective vision for the future and we all have our roles,” he added.
Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist based in New York, made a similar point, highlighting that “Democrats need to be far more in the business of reading the room.”
“There is also the point to be made that capable and trailblazing and extraordinary as [Pelosi] has been, you know, Democrats need to be far more in the business of reading the room,” he explained. “There is an outcry from the legislative branch and from even voters themselves for new fresh blood, new leadership, and a new generation to emerge and make their own mark.”
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Come January, both Pelosi and Trump will be back serving in public office for the first time since 2021. While Jeffries is at the helm of the Democratic caucus, it remains unclear how Pelosi intends to lend a hand.
“I think it must be frustrating for Hakeem Jeffries at times to always have to look back over his shoulder. But I mean, she did a very wise thing by stepping aside and letting him rule the roost,” Maviglio said. “What it means over the next two or four years, it only remains to be seen.”