Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, announced her retirement on November 6, two days after California voters approved a ballot measure that could net Democrats as many as five new congressional seats to counter Republican-led efforts to redraw state congressional maps in the middle of the decade.
Pelosi had relinquished the speaker’s gavel after Democrats lost the House majority in the 2022 midterms. Her retirement after nearly 40 years in office could put pressure on her former deputies, Representatives Steny Hoyer, 86, of Maryland and Jim Clyburn, 85, of South Carolina, to retire as well.
California Democrats hadn’t been holding back in making plans. Saikat Chakrabarti, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff, and state Senator Scott Wiener had already entered the field for the June 2 primary. Other Democrats could also enter the race now that Pelosi has said she won’t seek reelection. The seat is safely Democratic.
