January 4, 2007 – Nancy Pelosi Becomes First Woman Elected Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives

Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi was born on March 26, 1940. She is the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history; she held the elected position of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and was re-elected to this position in 2019.

Official portrait of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, photographed January 11, 2019 in the Office of the Speaker in the United States Capitol.

Pelosi, a Democrat, was first elected to Congress from California in 1987. She now represents the 12th congressional district (consisting of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco); she originally represented the 5th district before the districts were redrawn.

During Pelosi’s first speakership, she was instrumental in the passage of many landmark bills of the Obama administration, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the 2010 Tax Relief Act.

Pelosi lost the speakership in January 2011 after the Democratic Party lost control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. However, she retained her role as leader of the House Democratic Caucus and returned to the role of House minority leader. In the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats won back control of the House. Pelosi was again elected speaker, becoming the first former speaker to return to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955.

On November 17, 2022, Pelosi announced she would step aside from her longtime leadership role even though she was remaining in the House of Representatives. The previous month, Pelosi’s husband was attacked in their home, leaving him hospitalized. She has said the violence influenced her decision.