Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) may be turning 85-years-old in a matter of months, but it doesn't look like she's letting that stop her from running for reelection. On Thursday she filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). This comes after last week's interview with The New York Times, in which Pelosi lamented Democrats' losses and also threw President Joe Biden under the bus for not dropping out of the race sooner.
During last week's week's interview, Pelosi had also been asked about her own plans for reelection, which she wouldn't directly speak to:
You yourself were re-elected on Tuesday. Congratulations. Yes, thank you.
To your 20th term, which is extraordinary. It is that. I’m very proud of that.
Is it your last term? I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to fight the fight so that we win in the next election. I must have thought I’ve had the last term over and over again, but as fate would have it, the mission called.
The fact that Pelosi will have served 20 terms even if she doesn't ultimately run for reelection is staggering, with her having been in office longer than some members have been alive. Even if she was cagey, and her spokespeople remain so, she does look to be running again.
As The Washington Examiner reported:
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has filed for reelection in 2026, setting the stage to once again become a key anti-Trump force.
The 84-year-old filed a statement of candidacy Thursday 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.
Trump’s reelection could have had a role in persuading her to stay in office, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle. 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.
The San Francisco Chronicle has written plenty about Pelosi recently, including this Sunday article with a heavy emphasis on President-elect Donald Trump, "Nancy Pelosi was a key Trump antagonist. Will she stay for Round 2?" That New York Times interview also contained a blurb on that as well. "Perhaps no Democratic politician has been a greater antagonist to Donald Trump than Nancy Pelosi," it began. The antagonism towards Trump seems to have become an obsession.
Even Pelosi's fellow Democrats are speaking out against her, given her age, her role in Biden being forced out, and this supposed desire for a new generation of leaders, as a POLITICO piece from Thursday about Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) revealed.
As the interviewer pointed out, Fetterman didn't think Biden should have dropped out after his disastrous June 27 debate against Trump. "We can both agree that he had a rough debate," Fetterman acknowledged, though he still had strong words for Pelosi.
"People like [Nancy] Pelosi, she really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this 'she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer.' 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 offered. "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?"
Democrats still do look to be in disarray, as the headline suggests, "Should the Democratic Party be listening to John Fetterman?" As the interview mentioned and as Townhall covered, Fetterman had warned of a Trump win in the weeks before Trump was elected, especially with Trump's support from Elon Musk.