Nancy Peloshi, who headed the Democrats in the House of US representatives for almost two decades, announced that she was leaving her post, BBC reports.
82-year-old Pelosi is the most influential democrat in Congress and the first woman who took the post of speaker of the House of Representatives. She will continue to represent her California district in the lower house of Congress.
Pelosi’s departure is due to the fact that the Republicans, according to forecasts, will regain control over the House of Representatives after the intermediate elections. Republican Kevin McCarthy nominated the party’s candidacy to the post of speaker of the new Congress and will probably replace Pelosi as a speaker.
“I would never have thought that I would go from the housewife to the speaker of the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said in her statement. “I will not seek a re -election of the Democratic Party in the next congress. The time has come when the new generation will lead the democrats faction,” she said.
Pelosi will act as a speaker until January, when a new congress comes to power, and will remain in the place in the congress, which she first took in 1987, until January 2025.
Speaker of the House of Representatives – a position in the Congress specified in the US Constitution. After the vice president, he is the next in line for the presidency. The speaker, his deputies and the chairmen of committees determine which bills will be considered and voted. They set the agenda and determine the rules governing the debate.