Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, one of the most famous and influential politicians in the United States, is stepping down. She will not seek reelection as representative for San Francisco next year. The announcement, made unexpectedly this Thursday, brings to a close four decades on Capitol Hill, during which she shattered one of Washington's most formidable glass ceilings by becoming the first woman in history to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives. She held the position for two separate, turbulent terms, during which she served as the third-highest authority in the nation, after the president and vice president.

“I will not be running for reelection to Congress. With a heart full of gratitude, I look forward to my final year of service as your representative,” said Pelosi, 85, in a video addressed to her constituents in San Francisco, which then reviewed the highlights of her career.

Pelosi also made history by becoming the first Speaker to serve two separate terms since the 1950s. Neither term was easy, yet she amassed more power than any of her male counterparts on Capitol Hill, largely due to her strong and demanding personality and her tendency to rule through threats. The first term (2007-2011) was marked by the Great Recession; the second, from 2019 to January 2023, by the two impeachment proceedings against then-President Donald Trump. In that second term, he had to deal with the biggest crisis in modern American democracy, the assault on the Capitol by a Trumpist mob on January 6, 2021, and with the investigation by the special committee into the attack.

Despite the adversities, she always knew how to leave her mark in Washington, both when her party held the majority and when things took a turn for the worse. Three years ago, the veteran Democrat, dressed in white like the suffragettes, emotional and nervous, announced, after the Democrats lost control over her, that she would remain in the House as a representative, but without aspiring to leadership. “It’s time to make way for a new generation of Democrats,” she said.

So, the future of this former Californian housewife, a key figure in American legislative life, hung by a thread, for reasons that weren't solely electoral. The violent attack suffered by her husband, Paul Pelosi, on October 28, 2022, which left him hospitalized with a fractured skull, clearly weighed more heavily on her decision than the fate of her party at the polls.

While some believed that Paul Pelosi's slow recovery would push her to leave politics, others pointed out that she did not intend to throw in the towel because of the actions of an ultra-conspiracy theorist who was targeting her and who turned on her husband when he could not find her to unleash his fury.

That attack was the consequence of years of demonizing her from the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, the hard core of Trump supporters, always ready to launch their misogynistic attacks against Pelosi, one of the politicians who exemplified resistance to the Republican magnate with a simple and theatrical gesture. It was in February 2020, when the then Speaker tore up the pages of the new president's State of the Union address after he dictated it, and in reaction to its content, which the president said"shattered the truth."

At the time of that announcement, she recalled the difficulties she faced in making her way in a man's world."When I arrived in the House in 1987, there were 12 Democratic women; today there are more than 90," she said.

At that time, Ronald Reagan, another Californian, was president, and she decided to enter politics after raising her five children. She was determined not to be just another representative among a group of 435 politicians who, for the most part, go unnoticed.

In 2002, he became the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives. Four years later, after his party's victory in the 2006 midterm elections, which marked the end of George W. Bush's presidency, he took the Speaker's gavel in January of the following year. He served during Obama's first term, during which he was instrumental in passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare).

In her second term, she faced Trump and, despite a slim majority in the House of Representatives, championed Joe Biden's presidency (2017-2021) like no other. Her ability to navigate this adverse situation solidified her image as a tough and persuasive politician, yet capable of engaging in dialogue with her opponents to achieve her goals. The same cannot be said of her current successor, Representative Mike Johnson, who has decided to suspend activities in the House chamber during what is already the longest government shutdown in history.

Pelosi's retirement, almost four decades after arriving in Washington, brings to a close, at 85, a long and distinguished career. Critics of the progressive wing point to one blind spot: her skepticism toward the two impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, which she resisted for fear of the consequences. Pelosi suspected they would open a Pandora's box and destroy the dwindling cooperation between parties in an increasingly polarized country.

Despite stepping down as Speaker, Pelosi maintained considerable influence over her party for the remainder of Joe Biden's presidency. During the crisis surrounding Biden's eligibility for reelection, she exerted significant pressure behind closed doors on her longtime ally, which ultimately led to the Democratic nominee's withdrawal and his replacement by Kamala Harris, another prominent politician from the San Francisco Bay Area, who would ultimately lose to Trump a year ago this Wednesday.