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Tag: Pelosi

  • Here are PolitiFact’s top 10 fact-checks of 2025

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    Claims about deportations, the Department of Government Efficiency, and someone fainting in the White House were among the mistruths that kept PolitiFact busy in 2025 — and they featured in some of our most popular stories this year. 

    Here are our 10 most-read fact-checks, from a tenuous gang connection to fears over voter eligibility.

    10. President Donald Trump says Kilmar Abrego Garcia has “‘MS-13’ on his knuckles.” 

    President Donald Trump said Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a man the U.S. government deported to El Salvador in March, had MS-13 tattooed on his knuckles — illustrating a purported affiliation with the MS-13 gang founded by El Salvadoran immigrants.

    Trump made the claim during an April interview, referring to an image he posted on Truth Social of a left hand bearing four tattoos. Each finger in the picture displayed a different image — a marijuana leaf, a smiley face with an X for eyes, a cross and a skull — and an M, an S, a 1 and a 3 above these images. 

    But we found that the M, S, 1 and 3 don’t appear in other photos of Abrego Garcia’s hand, including one that Salvadoran government officials took when Abrego Garcia met with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on April 17 in El Salvador. (Abrego Garcia is now back in the U.S awaiting a criminal trial.)  

    The tattoos also do not appear in an Abrego Garcia family photo immigration advocates shared. The photograph Trump shared appears to have been altered to include “MS-13” above the other symbols. And MS-13 experts told PolitiFact that none of those symbols are known signifiers of the gang. 

    We rated this claim Pants on Fire!

    9. Novo Nordisk’s Gordon Findlay didn’t faint Nov. 6, 2025, in the Oval Office. He wasn’t even there

    Dave Ricks, chair and chief executive officer of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., was speaking in the Oval Office on Nov. 6 when a man standing behind him fainted. 

    Multiple social media posts claimed the man who became ill was “Novo Nordisk Executive Gordon Findlay.” They included a post from X’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot Grok.

    But Gordon Findlay, a Novo Nordisk manager based in Switzerland, wasn’t at the White House that day.

    The man who fainted doesn’t work for Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly; he was an Eli Lilly GLP-1 patient and attended a drug pricing announcement at the White House as the company’s guest.

    We rated this claim False.

    8. Did Bill Clinton create a fast-track deportation process exempt from due process? No.

    As the Trump administration drew criticism over aggressive deportations, some social media users pointed to a law enacted under former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. The posts said an immigration law Clinton signed showed immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally are not entitled to due process.

    The 1996 law established a fast-track deportation process called expedited removal that allows people to be deported without first going to immigration court. Although immigrants going through that process have fewer protections, they are not exempt from due process. People are screened, notified of deportation and can contest the deportation if they have a well-founded fear of persecution. Legal experts say there are no exceptions to due process rights, regardless of immigrants’ legal status or how they entered the country.

    We rated this claim False.

    7. Is it ‘official’ that Trump approved a $5,000 ‘DOGE dividend’ stimulus? No.

    As the Department of Government Efficiency touted billions in canceled government contracts, rumors spread that the reclaimed money would wind up in taxpayers’ pockets.

    A Feb. 23 Facebook post, for example, said Trump was going to sign an order giving some taxpayers a stimulus check for $5,000.

    We found no White House announcements or news reports reflecting this. 

    James Fishback, CEO of the investment firm Azoria Partners, proposed giving American taxpayers a $5,000 “DOGE dividend” with money the Department of Government Efficiency aimed to save, and Trump mentioned the idea to reporters.

    But DOGE didn’t cut the necessary $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget to make this proposed plan feasible.

    We rated this claim False.

    6. El gobernador de Texas Greg Abbott no dijo que deportaría a Dios si ‘fuera ilegal’

    A Spanish-language TikTok video appeared to show a journalist reporting that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would have deported God if the higher power were in the U.S. illegally. 

    But the July video manipulated TelevisaUnivision journalist Enrique Acevedo’s voice to present the misleading news. PolitiFact en Español submitted the audio from the video to an AI detector, which said the audio was fake.

    We rated this claim False.

    5. X post exaggerates wealth of Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren

    A Feb. 11 X post called out the significant wealth of prominent Democratic and Republican members of Congress. The account wrote about the supposed annual salaries and net worths of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

    Members of Congress are required to file annual financial disclosure reports detailing their assets and liabilities. Lawmakers also publicly report their annual salaries. But the lawmakers’ net worths weren’t driven by their government salaries; instead, their wealth mostly came from investments, such as stocks and real estate.

    PolitiFact analyzed these four congressional members’ 2023 financial disclosure reports — the most recent ones available at the time — and found that this post exaggerated their wealth.

    We rated this claim Mostly False.

    4. Zelenskyy’s statement about Ukraine aid didn’t reveal money laundering operation

    After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his military had received only a portion of the U.S. aid earmarked for the country’s war against Russia, critics floated that the funding was misused through money laundering.

    But Zelenskyy’s Feb. 1 statements aren’t proof of money laundering; they align with public data on the U.S. funding packages. 

    Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received about $75 billion in military assistance of the $175 billion the U.S. has dedicated to Ukraine aid. That was in line with what researchers monitoring funding to Ukraine observed at the time.

    A large portion of the money stayed in the U.S. and a smaller portion went to other countries in the region. 

    We rated these claims False.

    3. No, Trump didn’t post that the president should be impeached if the Dow drops 1,000 points

    As Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico took effect March 4, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by more than 1,300 points in two days.

    Some X users — including former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., — shared a screenshot of what looked like a 2012 X post from Trump.

    The screenshot made it look like Trump wrote, “If the Dow drops 1,000 points in two days the President should be impeached immediately.”

    But this was a fake post that had been circulating for at least six years. There’s no record of Trump making such a statement.

    We rated this claim Pants on Fire!

    2. Trump had hand in temporary ceasefires around the world but evidence is scant he stopped ‘six wars’

    Trump has repeatedly said he’s ended several wars, but there’s a lot of uncertainty around Trump’s role in these conflicts.

    “I’ve stopped six wars — I’m averaging about a war a month,” Trump said July 28 in Scotland. 

    Experts said in August that although he deserves some credit for deals that eased various conflicts, some leaders dispute his role in such negotiations.

    The U.S. was involved in a temporary peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that experts said is significant albeit shaky, for example. But Trump also wrongly said he ended a conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia, and there’s little evidence he thwarted an escalation between Kosovo and Serbia. 

    We fact-checked other similar statements from the president this year, including one that he ended “seven unendable wars.”

    We rated that and this claim Mostly False.

    1. SAVE Act would make it harder, not impossible, for married people to register to vote

    Congressional Republicans want to pass a bill that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. This worried voting rights advocates who say it would hinder registration among eligible citizens.

    The SAVE Act, would require people registering to vote or updating their voter registrations to use certain identifying documents, including military IDs, enhanced IDs showing citizenship, birth certificates or passports to prove citizenship. The bill passed in the House in April and is awaiting debate in the Senate.

    “If you are a woman that has changed your name from your birth certificate, let’s say through marriage and you took your husband’s name, you are no longer eligible to vote if this bill passes the Senate,” a Feb. 10 TikTok video said. 

    That’s not quite accurate. The bill would make voter registration more difficult for married people who change their last names, and anyone whose name does not match the name on a birth certificate. But it would not prohibit it outright. 

    We rated this claim Mostly False. 

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  • Commentary: Nancy Pelosi prided herself on cold calculation. She knew it was time

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    When Nancy Pelosi first ran for Congress, she was one of 14 candidates, the front-runner and a target.

    At the time, Pelosi was little known to San Francisco voters. But she was already a fixture in national politics. She was a major Democratic fundraiser, who helped lure the party’s 1984 national convention to her adopted home town. She served as head of California’s Democratic Party and hosted a salon that was a must-stop for any politician passing through.

    She was the chosen successor of Rep. Sala Burton, a short-timer who took over the House seat held for decades by her late husband, Philip, and who delivered a personal benediction from her deathbed.

    But at age 49, Pelosi had never held public office — she was too busy raising five kids, on top of all that political moving and shaking — and opponents made light of role as hostess. “The party girl for the party,” they dubbed her, a taunt that blared from billboards around town.

    She obviously showed them.

    Pelosi not only made history, becoming the nation’s first female speaker of the House. She became the party’s spine and its sinew, holding together the Democrat’s many warring factions and standing firm at times the more timorous were prepared to back down.

    The Affordable Care Act — President Obama’s signature achievement — would never have passed if Pelosi had not insisted on pressing on when many, including some in the White House, wished to surrender.

    She played a significant role in twice helping rescue the country from economic collapse — the first time in 2009 amid the Great Recession, then in 2020 during the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — mustering recalcitrant Democrats to ensure House passage.

    “She will go down in history as one of the most important speakers,” James Thurber, a congressional expert at Washington’s American University, said. “She knew the rules, she knew the process, she knew the personalities of the key players, and she knew how to work the system.”

    Pelosi’s announcement Thursday that she will not seek reelection — at age 85, after 38 years in Congress — came as no surprise. She saw firsthand the ravages that consumed her friend and former neighbor, Dianne Feinstein. (Pelosi’s eldest daughter, Nancy, was a last caretaker for the late senator.)

    She was not about to repeat that final, sad act.

    Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987, once said she never expected to serve in Congress more than 10 years. She recalled seeing a geriatric House member hobbling on a cane and telling a colleague, “It’s never going to be me. I’m not staying around that long.”

    (She never used a cane, but did give up her trademark stiletto heels for a time after suffering a fall last December and undergoing hip replacement surgery.)

    Pelosi had intended to retire sooner, anticipating Hillary Clinton would be elected president in 2016 and seeing that as a logical, and fitting, end point to her trailblazing political career. “I have things to do. Books to write; places to go; grandchildren, first and foremost, to love,” she said in a 2018 interview.

    However, she was determined to stymie President Trump in his first term and stuck around, emerging as one of his chief nemeses. After Joe Biden was elected, Pelosi finally yielded the speaker’s gavel in November 2022.

    But she remained a substantive figure, still wielding enormous power behind the scenes. Among other quiet maneuvers, she was instrumental in helping ease aside Biden after his disastrous debate performance sent Democrats into a panic. He was a personal friend, and long-ago guest at her political salon, but Pelosi anticipated a down-ticket disaster if Biden remained the party’s nominee. So, in her estimation, he had to go.

    It was the kind of ruthlessness that gave Pelosi great pride; she boasted of a reptilian cold-bloodedness and, indeed, though she shared the liberal leanings of her hometown, Pelosi was no ideologue. That’s what made her a superb deal-maker and legislative tactician, along with the personal touch she brought to her leadership.

    “She had a will of steel, but she also had a lot of grace and warmth,” said Thurber, “and that’s not always the case with speakers.”

    History-making aside, Pelosi left an enduring mark on San Francisco, the place she moved to from Baltimore as a young mother with her husband, Paul, a financier and real estate investor. She brought home billions of dollars for earthquake safety, re-purposing old military facilities — the former Presidio Army base is a spectacular park — funding AIDS research and treatment, expanding public transit and countless other programs.

    Her work in the 1980s and 1990s on AIDS funding was crucial in helping move discussion of the disease from the shadows — where it was viewed as a plague that mainly struck gay men and drug users — to a pressing national concern.

    In the process, she become a San Francisco institution, as venerated as the Golden Gate Bridge and beloved as the city’s tangy sourdough bread.

    “She’s an icon,” said Aaron Peskin, a former San Francisco County supervisor and 2024 candidate for mayor. “She walks into a room, people left, right and center, old, young, white, Black, Chinese stand on their feet. She’s one of the greatest speakers we have ever had and this town understands that.”

    Pelosi grew up in Baltimore in a political family. He father, Tommy D’Alesandro, was a Democratic New Deal congressman, who went on to serve three terms as mayor. “Little Nancy” stuffed envelopes — as her own children would — passed out ballots and often traveled by her father’s side to campaign events. (D’Alesandro went on to serve three terms as mayor; Pelosi’s brother, Tommy III, held the job for a single term.)

    David Axelrod, who saw Pelosi up close while serving as a top aide in the Obama White House, said he once asked her what she learned growing up in such a political household. “She didn’t skip a beat,” Axelrod said. “She said, ‘I learned how to count.’ ”

    Meaning when to call the roll on a key legislative vote and when to cut her losses in the face of inevitable defeat.

    Pelosi is still so popular in San Francisco she could well have eked out yet another reelection victory in 2026, despite facing the first serious challenge since that first run for Congress. But the campaign would have been brutal and potentially quite ugly.

    More than just about anyone, Pelosi knows how to read a political situation with dispassion, detachment and cold-eyed calculation.

    She knew it was time.

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    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • Rep. Nancy Pelosi, trailblazing Democratic leader from San Francisco, won’t seek reelection

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a trailblazing San Francisco Democrat who leveraged decades of power in the U.S. House to become one of the most influential political leaders of her generation, will not run for reelection in 2026, she said Thursday.

    The former House speaker, 85, who has been in Congress since 1987 and oversaw both of President Trump’s first-term impeachments, had been pushing off her 2026 decision until after Tuesday’s vote on Proposition 50, a ballot measure she backed and helped bankroll to redraw California’s congressional maps in her party’s favor.

    With the measure’s resounding passage, Pelosi said it was time to start clearing the path for another Democrat to represent San Francisco — one of the nation’s most liberal bastions — in Congress, as some are already vying to do.

    “With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi said in a nearly six-minute video she posted online Thursday morning, in which she also recounted major achievements from her long career.

    Pelosi did not immediately endorse a would-be successor, but challenged her constituents to stay engaged.

    “As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she said. “We have made history, we have made progress, we have always led the way — and now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy, and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.”

    Pelosi’s announcement drew immediate reaction across the political world, with Democrats lauding her dedication and accomplishments and President Trump, a frequent target and critic of hers, ridiculing her as a “highly overrated politician.”

    Pelosi has not faced a serious challenge for her seat since President Reagan was in office, and has won recent elections by wide margins. Just a year ago, she won reelection with 81% of the vote.

    However, Pelosi was facing two hard-to-ignore challengers from her own party in next year’s Democratic primary: state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), 55, a prolific and ambitious lawmaker with a strong base of support in the city, and Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, a Democratic political operative and tech millionaire who is infusing his campaign with personal cash.

    Their challenges come amid a shifting tide against gerontocracy in Democratic politics more broadly, as many in the party’s base have increasingly questioned the ability of its longtime leaders — especially those in their 70s and 80s — to sustain an energetic and effective resistance to President Trump and his MAGA agenda.

    In announcing his candidacy for Pelosi’s seat last month after years of deferring to her, Wiener said he simply couldn’t wait any longer. “The world is changing, the Democratic Party is changing, and it’s time,” he said.

    Chakrabarti — who helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) topple another older Democratic incumbent with a message of generational change in 2018 — said voters in San Francisco “need a whole different approach” to governing after years of longtime party leaders failing to deliver.

    In an interview Thursday, Wiener called Pelosi an “icon” who delivered for San Francisco in more ways than most people can comprehend, with whom he shared a “deep love” for the city. He also recounted, in particular, Pelosi’s early advocacy for AIDS treatment and care in the 1980s, and the impact it had on him personally.

    “I remember vividly what it felt like as a closeted gay teenager, having a sense that the country had abandoned people like me, and that the country didn’t care if people like me died. I was 17, and that was my perception of my place in the world,” Wiener said. “Nancy Pelosi showed that that wasn’t true, that there were people in positions of power who gave a damn about gay men and LGBTQ people and people living with HIV and those of us at risk for HIV — and that was really powerful.”

    While anticipated by many, Pelosi’s decision nonetheless reverberated through political circles, including as yet another major sign that a new political era is dawning for the political left — as also evidenced by the stunning rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist elected Tuesday as New York City’s next mayor.

    Known as a relentless and savvy party tactician, Pelosi had fought off concerns about her age in the past, including when she chose to run again last year. The first woman ever elected speaker in 2007, Pelosi has long cultivated and maintained a spry image belying her age by walking the halls of Congress in signature four-inch stilettos, and by keeping up a rigorous schedule of flying between work in Washington and constituent events in her home district.

    However, that veneer has worn down in recent years, including when she broke her hip during a fall in Europe in December.

    That occurred just after fellow octogenarian President Biden sparked intense speculation about his age and cognitive abilities with his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June of last year. The performance led to Biden being pushed to drop out of the race — in part by Pelosi — and to Vice President Kamala Harris moving to the top of the ticket and losing badly to Trump in November.

    Democrats have also watched other older liberal leaders age and die in power in recent years, including the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another San Francisco power player in Washington. When Ginsburg died in office at 87, it handed Trump a third Supreme Court appointment. When Feinstein died in office ill at 90, it was amid swirling questions about her competency to serve.

    By bowing out of the 2026 race, Pelosi — who stepped down from party leadership in 2022 — diminished her own potential for an ungraceful last chapter in office. But she did not concede that her current effectiveness has diminished one bit.

    Pelosi was one of the most vocal and early proponents of Proposition 50, which amends the state constitution to give state Democrats the power through 2030 to redraw California’s congressional districts in their favor.

    The measure was in response to Republicans in red states such as Texas redrawing maps in their favor, at Trump’s direction. Pelosi championed it as critical to preserving Democrats’ chances of winning back the House next year and checking Trump through the second half of his second term, something she and others suggested will be vital for the survival of American democracy.

    On Tuesday, California voters resoundingly approved Proposition 50.

    In her video, Pelosi noted a litany of accomplishments during her time in office, crediting them not to herself but to her constituents, to labor groups, to nonprofits and private entrepreneurs, to the city’s vibrant diversity and flair for innovation.

    She noted bringing federal resources to the city to recover after the Loma Prieta earthquake, and San Francisco’s leading role in tackling the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis through partnerships with University of California San Francisco and San Francisco General, which “pioneered comprehensive community based care, prevention and research” still used today.

    She mentioned passing the Ryan White CARE Act and the Affordable Care Act, building out various San Francisco and California public transportation systems, building affordable housing and protecting the environment — all using federal dollars her position helped her to secure.

    “It seems prophetic now that the slogan of my very first campaign in 1987 was, ‘A voice that will be heard,’ and it was you who made those words come true. It was the faith that you had placed in me, and the latitude that you have given me, that enabled me to shatter the marble ceiling and be the first woman Speaker of the House, whose voice would certainly be heard,” Pelosi said. “It was an historic moment for our country, and it was momentous for our community — empowering me to bring home billions of dollars for our city and our state.”

    After her announcement, Trump ridiculed her, telling Fox News that her decision not to seek reelection was “a great thing for America” and calling her “evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country.”

    “She was rapidly losing control of her party and it was never coming back,” Trump told the outlet, according to a segment shared by the White House. “I’m very honored she impeached me twice, and failed miserably twice.”

    The House succeeded in impeaching Trump twice, but the Senate acquitted him both times.

    Pelosi’s fellow Democrats, by contrast, heaped praise on her as a one-of-a-kind force in U.S. politics — a savvy tactician, a prolific legislator and a mentor to an entire generation of fellow Democrats.

    Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a longtime Pelosi ally who helped her impeach Trump, called Pelosi “the greatest Speaker in American history” as a result of “her tenacity, intellect, strategic acumen and fierce advocacy.”

    “She has been an indelible part of every major progressive accomplishment in the 21st Century — her work in Congress delivered affordable health care to millions, created countless jobs, raised families out of poverty, cleaned up pollution, brought LGBTQ+ rights into the mainstream, and pulled our economy back from the brink of destruction not once, but twice,” Schiff said.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom said Pelosi “has inspired generations,” that her “courage and conviction to San Francisco, California, and our nation has set the standard for what public service should be,” and that her impact on the country was “unmatched.”

    “Wishing you the best in this new chapter — you’ve more than earned it,” Newsom wrote above Pelosi’s online video.

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    Kevin Rector

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  • Pelosi faces challenges as age becomes unavoidable tension point for Democrats

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    SAN FRANCISCO — State Sen. Scott Wiener couldn’t wait any longer. The once-in-a-generation political opening he’d eyed for years had arrived, he decided — whether the grand dame of San Francisco politics agreed or not.

    On Wednesday, Wiener, 55, a prolific and ambitious lawmaker, formally announced his candidacy for the San Francisco congressional seat held for nearly four decades by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 85, who remains one of the party’s most powerful leaders and has yet to reveal her own intentions for the 2026 race.

    “The world is changing, the Democratic Party is changing, and it’s time,” Wiener said in an interview with The Times. “I know San Francisco, I have worked tirelessly to represent this community — delivering housing, health care, clean energy, LGBTQ and immigrant rights — and I have a fortitude and backbone to be able to deliver for San Francisco in Congress.”

    State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced Wednesdat that he will run for the congressional seat currently held by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    (Josh Edelson/For The Times)

    Wiener’s announcement — which leaked in part last week — caught some political observers off guard, given Wiener had for years seemed resigned to run for Pelosi’s seat only once she stepped aside. But it stunned few, given how squarely it fit within the broader political moment facing the Democratic Party.

    In recent years, a long-simmering reckoning over generational power has exploded into the political forefront as members of the party’s old guard have increasingly been accused of holding on too long, and to their party’s detriment.

    Long-serving liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ruffled many Democratic feathers by declining to step down during Barack Obama’s presidency despite being in her 80s. She subsequently died while still on the court at the age of 87 in 2020, handing President Trump his third appointment to the high court.

    Californians watched as the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another D.C. power player from San Francisco, teetered into frailty, muddled through her final chapter in Washington and then died in office at 90 in 2023. The entire nation watched as President Biden, another octogenarian, gave a disastrous debate performance that sparked unrelenting questions about his age and cognitive abilities and cleared the way for Trump’s return to power last year.

    Visitors walk past a bust of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein at San Francisco City Hall.

    Visitors walk past a bust of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein at San Francisco City Hall. The former mayor of San Francisco served in the Senate until she died in 2023 at age 90.

    (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

    As a result, age has become an unavoidable tension point for Democrats heading into next year’s midterm elections.

    It has also been an issue for Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), 83, the former Senate majority leader who has faced health issues in recent years and is retiring in 2026 after more than 40 years in the Senate. Other older Republicans are facing primary challenges for being perceived as too traditional or insufficiently loyal to Trump or the MAGA movement — including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), 73 and in office since 2002, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), 68 and in the Senate since 2015.

    For decades, many conservatives have called for congressional term limits in opposition to “career politicians” who cling to power for too long. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and David Trone, a Maryland Democrat, renewed those calls on Wednesday, announcing in an op-ed published in the New York Times that they would co-chair a national campaign to push for term limits.

    However, perhaps because they are in power, the calls for a generational shake-up in 2026 have not been nearly as loud on the Republican side.

    Democratic Party activists have sounded the alarm about a quickening slide into gerontocracy on the political left, blamed it for their party’s inability to mount an energetic and effective response to Trump and his MAGA movement, and called for younger candidates to take the reins — while congressional leaders in their 70s and 80s have increasingly begun weighing their options in the face of primary challenges.

    “It’s fair to say the political appetite for octogenarians is not high,” said Eric Jaye, a veteran Democratic strategist in San Francisco.

    “The choice in front of people is not just age,” said Saikat Chakrabarti, a 39-year-old tech millionaire and Democratic political operative who is also running for Pelosi’s seat. “We need a whole different approach and different candidates.”

    “There’s like this unspoken rule that you don’t do what we’re doing in this moment. You sit out and wait your turn,” said Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang, 40, who has launched a primary challenge to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), who is 81 and has been in Congress since 2005. “But I’m not going to wait on the sidelines, because there is an urgency of now.”

    A national trend

    The generational shift promises to reshape Congress by replacing Democrats across the country, including some who are leaving without a fight.

    Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, 78 and a senator representing New Hampshire since 2009, said in March that it was “time” to step aside.

    In Illinois, Sen. Richard Durbin, 80 and a senator since 1997, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 81 and in the House since 1999, both announced in May that they would not run again. Durbin said it was time “to pass the torch,” while Schakowsky praised younger “voices” in the party as “so sharp.”

    Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, 78 and in the House since 1992, announced his retirement last month, saying that “watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party.”

    New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks at a news conference.

    New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks at a news conference.

    (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Other older Democrats, meanwhile, have shown no intention of stepping aside, or are seeking out new roles in power.

    Maine Gov. Janet Mills, 77, recently announced she is running to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is 72 and has been in the Senate since 1997. Mills has tried to soften concerns about her age by promising to serve just one term if elected.

    Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, 79 and in the Senate since 2013, has stiffly rebuffed a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton, 46, accusing Moulton of springing a challenge on him amid a shutdown and while he is busy resisting Trump’s agenda.

    In Connecticut, Rep. John Larson, 77, who has been in office since 1999 and suffered a complex partial seizure on the House floor in February, has mocked his primary challengers’ message of generational change, telling Axios, “Generational change is fine, but you’ve got to earn it.”

    Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg speaks during the March for Our Lives in 2022.

    David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., speaks at the 2022 March for Our Lives.

    (Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for March For Our Lives)

    David Hogg, a 25-year-old liberal activist who was thrust into politics by the 2018 mass shooting at his Parkland, Fla., high school, is among the party’s younger leaders pushing for new blood. He recently declined to seek reelection as the co-vice chair of the Democratic National Committee to bring primary challenges to older Democratic incumbents with his group Leaders We Deserve.

    When he announced that decision in June, Hogg called the idea that Democratic leaders can stay in power until they die even if they don’t do a good job an “existential threat to the future of this party and nation.” His group fundraises and disperses money to young candidates it backs.

    When asked by The Times about Pelosi and her primary challengers, however, Hogg was circumspect, calling Pelosi “one of the most effective and consequential leaders in the history of the Democratic Party.”

    A shift in California

    Pelosi is not the only older California incumbent facing a primary challenge. In addition to Matsui, the list also includes Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Porter Ranch), who is 70 and has been in office since 1997, and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), who is 74 and has been in office since 1999.

    But Pelosi’s challenges have attracted more attention, perhaps in part because her departure from Congress would be the clearest sign yet that the generational shift sought by younger party activists is fully underway.

    Nancy Pelosi waves the speaker's gavel

    Nancy Pelosi is sworn in as House speaker in 2007, surrounded by her grandchildren and children of other members of Congress.

    (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

    A trailblazer as the first female speaker of the House, Pelosi presided over two Trump impeachments. While no longer in leadership, she remains incredibly influential as an arm-twister and strategist.

    She played a central role in sidelining Biden after his debate meltdown, and for the last couple months has been raising big money — a special skill of hers — in support of California’s Proposition 50. The measure seeks voter approval to redraw California’s congressional districts to better favor Democrats in response to Trump’s pressure campaign on Texas and other red states to redraw their lines in favor of Republicans.

    Pelosi has used Prop. 50 in recent days to deflect questions about her primary challengers and her plans for 2026, with her spokesman Ian Krager saying she “is fully focused” on the Prop 50 fight and will be through Nov. 4.

    Chakrabarti, who helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) unseat a longtime Democratic incumbent in 2019, said he sees even more “appetite for change” among the party’s base today — as evidenced by “mainstream Democrats who have voted for Nancy Pelosi their whole life” showing up to his events.

    And it makes sense, he said.

    For decades, Americans have watched the cost of essentials skyrocket while their wages have remained relatively flat, Chakrabarti said, and that has made them desperate to support messages of “bold, sweeping economic change” — whether from Obama or Trump — even as long-serving, mainstream Democrats backed by corporate money have worked to maintain the status quo.

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez leaves a news conference at the Capitol in 2019.

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez leaves a news conference at the Capitol in 2019. At left is Saikat Chakrabarti, who was her chief of staff and is now a candidate for the congressional seat held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

    (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag)

    He said it is time for Democrats to once again push bold, big ideas, which he plans to do — including Medicare for all, universal child care, free college tuition, millions of new units of affordable housing, a new economy built around climate action, and higher taxes on billionaires and mega-millionaires like him.

    Wiener, who also backs Prop. 50 and would be the first out gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress, said he cannot speak to Pelosi’s thinking — or to Politico reporting Wednesday that Pelosi is considering her options and has been seen “publicly elevating” San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan in the race — but is confident in his readiness for the role.

    Wiener agreed with Chakrabarti that big ideas are needed from Democrats to win back voters and make progress. He also said that his track record in the state Legislature shows that he has “been willing to take on very, very big fights to make significant progressive change.”

    “No one has ever accused me of thinking small,” he said — citing his success in passing bills to create more affordable housing, reform health insurance and drug pricing, tackle net neutrality, challenge telecommunications and cable companies and protect LGBTQ+ and other minority communities and immigrants.

    “In addition to having the desire to make big progressive change, in addition to talking about big progressive change, you have to be able to put together the coalitions to deliver on that change, because words are not enough,” Wiener said. “I’ve shown over and over again that I know how to do it, and that I can deliver.”

    Political analysts said a message of big ideas will clearly resonate with some voters. But they also said that Pelosi, if she stays in the race, will be hard to beat. She will also face more serious questions than ever about her age and “her ability to function at the extraordinarily high level” she has worked at in years past, Jaye said, and will “have to answer those questions.”

    If Pelosi decides not to run, Chakrabarti has the benefit of self-funding and of the current party enthusiasm for fresh faces, they said, and anyone — Chan or otherwise — would benefit from a Pelosi endorsement. But Wiener already has a strong base in the district, a track record for getting legislation passed and, as several observers pointed out, a seemingly endless battery.

    “Scott Wiener is an animal. The notion of work-life balance is not a concept he has ever had. He is just like a robotic working machine,” said Aaron Peskin, who served 18 years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, some alongside Wiener.

    Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland) speaks to reporters at the Capitol in September.

    Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland) speaks to reporters at the Capitol in September.

    (Kayla Bartkowski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Amanda Litman, the president of Run for Something, which supports young progressive candidates, said there is pent-up demand for a new generation of leaders, and “older Democrats, especially those in Congress, need to ask themselves, ‘Am I the best person to lead this party forward right now?’”

    Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland), 48, won her seat in 2024 after longtime Rep. Barbara Lee, 79, who had been in the seat since 1998, decided to run for Oakland mayor. Simon said that to her, “it’s not necessarily about birthdays” but who can do the job — “who can govern, who can mentor and who can hold this administration accountable.”

    As a longtime community activist who worked with youth, Simon said she is “extremely excited” by all the energy of young Democratic office seekers. But as a freshman in Congress who has leaned on Lee, Pelosi and other mentors to help her learn the ropes, she said it’s also clear Democrats need to “have some generals who are really, really tried and tested.”

    “What is not helpful to me in this moment,” Simon said, “is for the Democrats to be a circular firing squad.”

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    Kevin Rector, Ana Ceballos, Seema Mehta

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  • Commentary: Is Pelosi getting ‘Bidened’? High drama in the scramble for her congressional seat

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    State Sen. Scott Wiener is a strategic and effective legislator who rarely lets emotion make his decisions — much like Nancy Pelosi, whose congressional seat he would like to take.

    It has been a wide-open secret for years that Wiener wanted to make a run for federal office when or if Pelosi retired, but he’s also been deferential to the elder stateswoman of California politics and has made it equally clear that he would wait his turn in the brutal and parochial machine of San Francisco politics.

    Until now.

    The San Francisco Standard broke the news Thursday that Wiener is running on the 2026 ballot, though he has yet to formally announce.

    It is news that shocked even those deep in the dog-eat-dog world of S.F. politics and ignited the inevitable news cycle about whether Pelosi (who was instrumental in removing President Biden from the 2024 race for age-related issues) is being Bidened herself. It also ensures a contentious race that will be nationally watched by both MAGA and the progressive left, both of which take issue with Wiener.

    Oh, the drama.

    Take it for what you will, but a few months after having hip replacement surgery, Pelosi is (literally) back in her stiletto heels and raising beaucoup dollars for Proposition 50, the ballot initiative meant to gerrymander California voting maps to counteract a GOP cheat-fest in Texas.

    Yes, she’s 85, but she’s no Joe. She is also, however, no spring chicken. So the national debate on whether Democrats need not just fresh but younger candidates has officially landed in the City by the Bay, though Wiener remains both practical and polite enough to not frame it that way.

    He’ll leave that to the journalists, who have hounded Pelosi for months to announce whether she will seek another term, a question she has declined to directly answer. Instead, her team has focused on the looming election for Proposition 50 and said any announcement on her future has to wait after the ballots are counted.

    To be fair to Pelosi, she’s gone all-in to both fundraise and campaign for the redistricting effort, and its passage is essential to Democrats having even a shot at winning back any power in the midterms.

    If Prop. 50 fails, there is no non-miracle path, except perhaps an unexpected blue wave, through which Democrats can retake a chamber. So Nov. 4 isn’t an arbitrary date. It will determine if there is any possibility of checking Trump’s power grab, and preserving democracy. Personally, I don’t fault Pelosi for being engaged in that fight.

    To also be fair to Wiener, his decision to announce now was probably driven more by money and political momentum than by Pelosi’s age.

    That’s because Pelosi already has a challenger — the ultra-wealthy progressive Saikat Chakrabarti, a startup millionaire who served as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager during her first upset win for Congress in 2018. Chakrabarti has long been an antagonist to Pelosi, and recently announced his candidacy, positioning himself as a disrupter.

    In 2019, before the House impeached Trump over his questionable actions involving Ukraine, Chakrabarti tweeted, “Pelosi claims we can’t focus on impeachment because it’s a distraction from kitchen table issues. But I’d challenge you to find voters that can name a single thing House Democrats have done for their kitchen table this year. What is this legislative mastermind doing?”

    Chakrabarti, who was born the year before Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987, has self-funded his campaign with $700,000 and has the financial ability to spend much more. Wiener, in his on-the-down-low shadow campaign, has raised a bit over $1 million, not nearly enough. The primary will be in June and it will be expensive.

    Though we have yet to reach Halloween, a stroll down the aisles of any big box store can tell you that Christmas is neigh, a season when fundraising becomes harder — putting pressure on Wiener to raise money as quickly as possible before the winter freeze.

    Add to that pressure the fact that Chakrabarti has political skills and growing popularity. He was the tech architect behind a successful push to activate volunteers for both AOC and Bernie Sanders.

    An internal poll released a few months ago (and any internal poll must be viewed skeptically) showed Chakrabarti drawing 34% of voters to Pelosi’s 47%. His numbers increased as voters learned more about him — a few have even compared him to New York’s socialist wonder-kid Zohran Mamdani, currently running for mayor against Andrew Cuomo.

    The problem with that is that Wiener is not Cuomo. He’s a progressive himself, and one with an established track record of getting stuff done, often progressive stuff.

    I’ve watched him for years push ambitious agendas through the statehouse, including bills where I would have bet against him.

    Most recently, he wrote the state’s ban on cops, including ICE, wearing masks. Although the feds have said they will ignore the new law, recently signed by Newsom, and it will almost certainly end up in court, it is a worthy message to send about secret police in America.

    Wiener also this term passed a controversial housing bill that will increase density around transit hubs, and spearheaded a bill to regulate artificial intelligence.

    In past terms, he has successfully forced insurance companies to cover mental health the same way they cover physical health; pushed large companies to disclose their climate impact; and been one of the major proponents of “YIMBY” policies that make it easier to build housing.

    He has also passed numerous laws protecting immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights, which has made him a favorite target of the far right. He has received death threats on a regular basis for years, including one from an anti-vaxxer who was convicted on seven counts in 2022 after threatening Wiener and being found in possession of weapons. Wiener doesn’t have Pelosi’s charisma, but he has receipts for getting the job done and handling the vicious vitriol of modern politics.

    Unlike Chakrabarti, Wiener has also been a part of San Francisco’s insular community for decades, and has his own base of support — though he is considered a moderate to Chakrabarti’s progressiveness. This is where San Francisco gets wonderfully weird. In nearly any other place, Wiener would be solidly left. But some of his constituents view him as too developer-friendly for his housing policies and have criticized his past policies around expanding conservatorships for mentally ill people.

    But still, a recent poll done by EMC research but not released publicly found that 61% of likely primary voters have a favorable opinion of Wiener. That vastly outpaces the 21% that said the same about Chakrabarti or even the 21% who liked Pelosi’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, who has also been mentioned as a possible successor.

    Which is all to say that Wiener is in a now-or-never moment. He has popularity but needs momentum and cash. The Democratic Party is in a mess, and the old rules are out the window, even in San Francisco.

    So waiting for Pelosi had become a little bit like waiting for Godot, a self-imposed limbo that was more likely to lead to frustration than victory.

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    Anita Chabria

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  • Pelosi sends signal to Biden: ‘Time is running short’

    Pelosi sends signal to Biden: ‘Time is running short’

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    WASHINGTON — 

    Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most influential voices in President Biden’s sphere outside of his family, sent a rare public signal Wednesday morning that suggested she is trying to nudge him to consider dropping out of the election.

    “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” she said on MSNBC. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”

    Pelosi sandwiched her comments between praise for Biden and his record. But Pelosi is notably careful and calculating in her public comments and well aware that Biden has repeatedly and forcefully said he has already made that decision. She spoke on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden’s favorite cable news show and the same venue where on Monday he gave one of his most defiant declarations that he would remain in the race.

    Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is no longer in Democratic leadership but remains in the House after one of the most consequential tenures in history. At 84, she is three years older than Biden and served alongside him for most of his political career. She also had the experience of watching close friend Sen. Dianne Feinstein deteriorate before dying in office last year.

    Pelosi said Biden would have the “overwhelming support” of House Democrats. “He’s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

    She also suggested that she would not make a more direct call for him to withdraw.

    “I’ve said to everyone, let’s just hold off, whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week,” she said.

    The comments preceded a high-profile call to withdraw from a different sort of influencer: George Clooney. The actor, who is a major backer for Democrats, headlined a Hollywood mega-fundraiser for Biden last month.

    “The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time,” Clooney wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in the New York Times. “None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F— deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

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    Noah Bierman

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  • 2024 candidate Dean Phillips called Pelosi and Feinstein old. Biden is his next target

    2024 candidate Dean Phillips called Pelosi and Feinstein old. Biden is his next target

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    Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips swept into office in 2018 after promising not to vote for Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House.

    The Gen X Minnesotan reasoned that the San Franciscan had been at the top too long and Democrats needed some fresh blood in House leadership. In the private sector, he argued, people rarely serve for two decades in top posts.

    Phillips ultimately backed Pelosi (D-San Francisco) for speaker as part of a deal that saw her leave leadership last year. But in the spring of this year, as another Californian, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, began missing votes, he spoke out again, writing an op-ed arguing that she needed to resign for the good of the country.

    Feinstein’s refusal to resign — she died in office on Sep. 29 — did the country a disservice, Phillips told The Times during a visit to California last month.

    “Who doesn’t know Congress is dysfunctional, but I did not know how horrifyingly so until I got there,” said Phillips, 54. “I encountered a culture filled with people who had been there for decades, that were so clearly focused more on the preservation of their positions than they were the priorities of the population.”

    Now Phillips is taking on 81-year-old President Biden for the Democratic nomination — and making the same argument he made about Feinstein and Pelosi. His longshot run has included several trips to California to appear on shows like Real Time with Bill Maher and court potential donors in Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

    Nearly 80% of voters in a September Reuters-Ipsos poll said that Biden is too old to run again. More than half said the same about the 77-year-old Donald Trump.

    Dean Phillips steps off his campaign bus at the New Hampshire State House. He filed a declaration of candidacy Oct. 27, 2023, to run in the state’s presidential primary.

    (Glen Stubbe / Star Tribune)

    Elected Democrats who refused to criticize Feinstein’s fitness to serve — or acknowledge publicly that Biden’s age is a challenge — are no better than Republicans who are unwilling to publicly criticize former President Trump, Phillips argued.

    “It is the same disease — the same danger and the same consequence, which is the reduction in faith and government,” he said, noting that Biden is far better than Trump as a leader.

    Phillips, who has voted with Biden 100% of the time in the House, has said repeatedly that he’s not in this race to tear down the president. He praised the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Biden’s “extraordinary” support for Israel.

    But in his interview with The Times, Phillips was quick to say that Biden didn’t do enough to respond as vice president to Russia’s invasion of Crimea and that the Israel-Hamas war “could have been prevented with more extraordinary intentional peace efforts over the course of his tenure, both as vice president and now president.” He supports an internationally monitored cease-fire once all the hostages held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip have been released and says a multinational peacekeeping force should be deployed to the region.

    He also attacked Biden’s unwillingness to legalize cannabis and the president’s response to “chaos” at the border.

    Phillips sees what he’s doing as a “hopeful run” meant to offer a respectful alternative to someone whom he considers a successful president. He believes that by May or June, after enough campaigning, head-to-head polls will show him beating former President Trump and will continue to show Biden losing.

    But his attacks on Biden over policy issues, and his recent claim that Biden — like Trump — is a threat to democracy have some political observers questioning whether he plans to run a purely positive campaign. They worry he could end up hurting Biden’s chances in a general election.

    Phillips’ effort recalls former Gov. Jerry Brown’s runs for president, where he got in late and never accumulated enough movement support, said Danielle Cendejas, who works for the Strategy Group, a national political consulting firm that advised Phillips’ congressional bids but is not working on his presidential campaign.

    “Phillips’ run feels like it’s more of a, ‘Hey, I’m an option’ campaign rather than, ‘I am trying to do something different because the president is not doing what I think should be done,’” she said. “Anytime you run against the White House, you are running on the fact that the president is just not doing a good enough job.”

    If Phillips was running far to Biden’s left, his challenge might galvanize the White House to respond more aggressively, Cendejas says. But so far, the Biden team doesn’t seem too worried. (A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign declined to comment for this article.)

    Phillips’ campaign counts Andrew Yang’s former campaign manager Zach Graumann as a senior advisor. Strategist Bradley Tusk, who managed Yang’s 2021 New York mayoral campaign and worked for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said he was surprised that no nationally elected officials or activists had challenged Biden from the left.

    The risk for Biden is he “could really underperform in the primaries but not lose them,” Tusk said. “Then Trump picks up a lot more momentum, raises a lot more money and fundraising for Biden gets that much harder.”

    The two most urgent challenges Phillips faces are raising enough money to run a competitive campaign and getting on the ballot in as many states as possible. He already won’t be on the ballot in Nevada. He’s angry that he will likely be left off the ballot in Florida.

    The Minnesotan, who thinks he’ll make the ballot in 90% of states, will appear on California’s ballot for its March 5 primary, according to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

    Phillips and his team believe that a competitive primary is a healthy part of the democratic process. If the polls in May or June show Biden beating Trump “and me losing, I’ll be the first to acknowledge it and wrap it up,” he said.

    Snuffing out dissenting voices only hurts the voters, argued Jeff Weaver, a senior advisor to Phillips who had top roles in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

    Weaver thinks a strong showing for Phillips in New Hampshire, where Biden is not on the ballot but his supporters are marshaling a write-in campaign, will create momentum that will get him noticed by more voters. A poll last month in the state found Phillips with 15% support after two weeks of campaigning. Biden had 27% support.

    “Our primary system is one of the only feedback loops between people on the ground and the national party,” Weaver told The Times.

    “Issues and candidates affect how people vote. There should be a vigorous primary where people get to see their candidates talk about the issues. With there being no debates, the [Democratic] party has worked to stifle that process.”

    President Joe Biden arrives at Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, Calif., Friday, Dec. 8, 2023.

    President Joe Biden arrives at Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, Calif., Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., third from left, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, look on.

    (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

    Phillips faces a steep financial challenge. In one weekend this month, Biden brought in about $15 million at two fundraisers in Los Angeles. Phillips said he will have trouble raising that kind of money—even as the Minnesotan who got rich running his family’s liquor business and later the Talenti gelato brand, has poured $2 million of own wealth into the campaign.

    But Phillips has found some pockets of support.

    Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi, a college friend of Phillips, has supported his congressional races. Phillips said he has met in recent months with Open AI CEO Sam Altman — a meeting first reported by the news outlet Puck. Phillips told The Times he wasn’t sure if Altman, who gave $200,000 to the Biden reelection bid, had donated to his campaign.

    He declined to detail how Altman, whose representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment, had been advising his launch except to say “I found him to be an extraordinarily brilliant and principled and magnificent ideator and convener and community builder, and without getting too much into the details, yes, he’s been supportive.”

    Cryptocurrency billionaire Mike Novogratz has shifted his support away from Biden and will host a Phillips fundraiser, CNBC reported this week.

    Phillips has held several Southern California fundraisers since launching his campaign at the beginning of November, though his campaign has declined to say how much they’ve raised. Phillips said the events attracted many Biden backers who pined for an alternative.

    One was television executive Adam Goodman, who previously served as president of Paramount Pictures’ Motion Picture Group and DreamWorks SKG, and described how his high-school-age daughter heard Phillips speak and felt a connection to him. He’s been impressed by many of Biden’s successes over the last four years but still hosted a 100-person fundraiser for Phillips in his home early last month.

    “This is the time when we’re supposed to be listening and auditioning the best people for the job and then ultimately we will get to a convention and the best candidate will go forward at that point,” he said.

    Goodman said that politics — like show business — needs fresh perspectives in leadership.

    “Show business is really in jeopardy right now,” he said. “The people who are actually really running the businesses who are at the top top top — these are people that have been in authority for 35-plus years. They are not people who necessarily understand the generational shift.”

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    Benjamin Oreskes

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  • Pelosi says she’ll seek re-election to House seat in 2024

    Pelosi says she’ll seek re-election to House seat in 2024

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will run for reelection to another term in Congress as Democrats work to win back the majority in 2024.

    Pelosi, 83, made the announcement before labor allies in the San Francisco area district she has represented for more than 35 years.

    From the archives (November 2022): House Democratic caucus confers ‘speaker emerita’ title on Pelosi as Jeffries takes up party leadership reins

    Also see (November 2022): Nancy Pelosi steps down as leader of House Democrats after two decades

    “Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery,” Pelosi said in a tweet. “Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL. That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote.”

    First elected to Congress in 1987, the Democratic leader made history becoming the first female speaker in 2007, and in 2019 she regained the speaker’s gavel.

    Pelosi led the party through substantial legislative achievements, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, as well as turbulent times with two impeachments of former President Donald Trump.

    The announcement quells any talk of retirement for the long-serving leader who, with the honorific title of speaker emeritus, remains an influential leader, pivotal party figure and vast fundraiser for Democrats.

    Read on:

    Nancy Pelosi: Love or hate her, her senior work ethic is admirable

    Nancy Pelosi portrait unveiling at Capitol reduces John Boehner to tears

    State of the Union guests include Bono, Paul Pelosi and Tyre Nichols’s parents

    Paul Pelosi ‘violently assaulted’ after break-in at home, full recovery expected, Nancy Pelosi’s office says

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  • Nancy Pelosi: ‘Follow the Money’

    Nancy Pelosi: ‘Follow the Money’

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    The former speaker of the House discussed Silicon Valley Bank, January 6 revisionist history, the coming election, and more in a South by Southwest interview focused on money and greed.

    Travis P Ball / Getty for SXSW

    House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s message at the annual South by Southwest festival could be summarized in three words: Follow the money.

    Pelosi uttered that specific phrase—and similar versions of it—several times during her interview with Evan Smith, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, as part of the magazine’s Future of Democracy summit this morning in Austin, Texas.

    Pelosi, who represents California’s 11th congressional district, began by discussing the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the anxiety sweeping through not only her home district but the tech and financial industries as a whole. “I don’t think there’s any appetite in this country for bailing out a bank,” she said. “What we would hope to see by tomorrow morning is for some other bank to buy the bank.” She said there were multiple potential buyers, but she couldn’t reveal their names. Pelosi pointed out that former President Donald Trump had authorized the reduction of certain Dodd-Frank protections that had been instituted following the 2008 financial crash: “If they were still in place and the bank had to honor them, this might have been avoided,” she offered. Rather than repeating our recent history and using taxpayer money to rescue the failed institution, Pelosi said the focus should be on protecting depositors and small businesses at risk of closing or not making payroll. “We do not want contagion,” she said.

    Franklin Foer: You’ll miss gerontocracy when it’s gone

    Pelosi pointed to money—the reckless use and exploitation of it—as the root of virtually every problem facing America and the world today. Whether the potential fallout of a failed bank like SVB or the rise of autocracy around the world, it all comes down to money, money, money, and little else. “Money buying Russian oil is paying for the assault on democracy in Ukraine,” Pelosi said. She accused China of “buying” votes from smaller countries at the United Nations, and said the U.S. must join with the European Union “in using the leverage of this big market to have the playing field be more even.”

    Pelosi refused to say Trump’s name even once during her one-hour session, referring to the 45th president instead by “What’s his name” under her breath. Still, she condemned the extremism and anarchy that had overtaken American politics since Trump began his rise nearly eight years ago. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was struck in the head with a hammer by a home invader last fall, joined her on today’s trip to Texas, which was unusual, given that he’s still recovering from the attack. “I was the target,” she said. “He paid the price.”

    She spoke of the January 6 insurrection with sadness and disgust—anarchists “making poo-poo on the floor of the Capitol”—and acknowledged the rioters’ goal to put a bullet in her head that day. Her successor, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, recently gave a trove of January 6 material to Fox News in the name of governmental transparency. Fox’s biggest star, Tucker Carlson, downplayed the severity of the Capitol storming in a broadcast last week. “Something must be wrong with Tucker Carlson,” Pelosi said. “There’s money that runs a lot of it.”

    David From: No tears for Kevin McCarthy

    Taking a brief conciliatory note, she said she was hoping “for the best” for McCarthy as he continues his first year as House speaker. “We need to listen, and I hope that Kevin will listen to other than just the very radical, right-wing fringe of his party,” she said, apparently gesturing at Trump and other election deniers. When asked about the prospect of Trump again becoming the GOP nominee in 2024, she was ready with a canned line: “If he is, we impeached him twice, and he’s gonna lose twice.” (Left unsaid was that neither impeachment resulted in Trump’s removal from office.)

    As for President Joe Biden, Pelosi called him a “magnificent leader” and said that she “certainly hopes” he will run again. (She joked that he’s younger than she is.) Nevertheless, Pelosi seemed slightly agitated that Biden had yet to formally declare his candidacy, leaving other potential candidates in the Democratic party with few options. “I think it would be efficient for us to have a president seek reelection, and we should be moving on with it when we can. Whatever decision he makes, we’d like to know.”

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    John Hendrickson

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  • How a House speaker is elected — and how steep a hill Republican Kevin McCarthy will need to climb

    How a House speaker is elected — and how steep a hill Republican Kevin McCarthy will need to climb

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin McCarthy is set to face a case of déjà vu come Tuesday. The political future of the 57-year-old will once again be at stake as Republican lawmakers decide if he should become House speaker.

    It’s a journey the California lawmaker took once before in 2015, fruitlessly, facing the same opposition from the right flank of the party he is expected to meet this week. His first speakership run came when then–House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, resigned after an internal party battle with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus.

    More than seven years later, he is the party’s nominee for speaker after leading the Republican Party to a slim majority in the November midterm elections. He secured the support of most of the conference during a closed-door leadership vote shortly after and overcame a challenge from Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona.

    While McCarthy is as of now facing no serious Republican challenger for the constitutionally mandated office, which would make him second in line to the presidency, his ascension to speaker is an open question — even as, according to an MSNBC report, he has already moved into the speaker’s opulent suite of offices. He is facing entrenched opposition from a small number of conservative lawmakers who in a 222-213 majority could well tank his nomination.

    It is believed his candidacy could absorb no more than four defections. Some 14 Republicans, in the wake of a Sunday letter signed by nine House Republicans, have publicly vowed or suggested continued opposition to a McCarthy speakership.

    House Democrat Eric Swalwell suggested those nine letter signers would ultimately return to the McCarthy fold, while the other five holdouts have characterized themselves as “never Kevin” Republicans.

    See: McCarthy’s longtime ambition of becoming House speaker to come to head on Day 1 of new Congress

    Here’s what you need to know about how the House elects a speaker:

    No speaker, no House

    Choosing a speaker will be the first vote the House will take before new and returning lawmakers are even sworn into office on Tuesday. As set out under the Constitution, the session will begin at noon on Jan. 3, with all the lawmakers seated on the House floor and members from both parties joining in the vote for speaker. It is not a secret ballot.

    The chamber cannot organize until it has a speaker since that person effectively serves as the House’s presiding officer and the institution’s administrative head.

    The House can elect a new speaker at any time if the person occupying that role dies, resigns or is removed from office. Barring that, a speaker is normally elected at the start of a new Congress.

    Lawmakers call out the name of their choice for speaker from the floor, a rare and time-consuming roll call that heightens the drama on the floor. Members often liven up the proceedings by shouting or standing when casting their vote.

    Who can be nominated for speaker?

    In the weeks after an election, the Republican conference and the Democratic caucus hold an informal vote among their members to decide who they want to nominate to lead their party in January. McCarthy won the majority of the Republican vote in a closed-door November meeting. Weeks later, Democrats unanimously chose Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, to become their leader as the party transitions into the minority.

    But, once Jan. 3 comes along, members are not obligated to vote for the party’s chosen candidate. While it has been the tradition for the speaker candidate to be a member of the House, it is not required. In past years, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and even a senator, Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, have received votes for House speaker.

    To be sure, none of them came close to a majority of the vote.

    Let the voting begin

    Once the House is in a quorum — meaning the minimum number of members are present to proceed — the speaker nominee from each party will be read aloud by the respective leaders before a roll call vote to elect a new speaker. The clerk then appoints lawmakers from each party as tellers to tally the votes.

    The candidate to become speaker needs a majority of the votes from House members who are present and voting.

    Historically, the magical number has been 218 out of the 435 members of the House. But many previous speakers, including outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have ascended to the dais with fewer votes than that, as some members voted present instead of calling out a name. Every lawmaker voting “present” lowers the overall tally needed to reach a majority.

    See: Nancy Pelosi portrait unveiling at Capitol reduces John Boehner to tears

    Also: House Democratic caucus confers ‘speaker emerita’ title on Pelosi as Jeffries takes up party leadership reins

    Many are skeptical that McCarthy will reach a majority to become speaker on the first ballot. Should he come up short, it is likely the clerk will repeat the roll call several times until he is able to garner a majority. McCarthy is expected to be making concessions and compromises with the holdouts until the moment he is able to grasp the gavel, telling reporters on Monday at the Capitol that he expected to “have a good day” on Tuesday.

    From the archives (July 2021): Trump and allies work to rebrand Jan. 6 rioters as patriots, heroes and martyrs

    Also (January 2022): Toeing of party line outweighs deliverables for constituents for many of today’s congressional Republicans

    Also (February 2021): Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene removed from House committees; 11 Republicans cross aisle in vote

    Gavel passing

    Once a speaker candidate won a majority of the vote, the clerk will announce the results of the election.

    A bipartisan committee, usually consisting of members from the home state of the chosen candidate, will then escort the speaker-elect to the chair on the dais where the oath of office is administered. The oath is identical to the one new members will take once a speaker is chosen.

    The outgoing speaker will usually join the successor at the speaker’s chair, where they will pass the gavel as a nod to the peaceful transition of power from one party leader to another. This time around, that will be Pelosi, the California Democrat who has held the gavel for the last four years.

    MarketWatch contributed.

    Read on: U.S. Rep.–elect Santos should consider quitting over résumé lies, says veteran House Republican

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  • Hakeem Jeffries Elected To House Democratic Leader In Historic First

    Hakeem Jeffries Elected To House Democratic Leader In Historic First

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    House Democrats chose caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries of New York to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader of the Democrats in the chamber next year, a historic move that will make him the first Black person to lead one of the two major parties in either chamber of Congress. What do you think?

    “Isn’t 52 a little young to be leading the Democrats?”

    James Clark, Unemployed

    “He probably had to kill twice as many progressive bills as his white colleagues to get to where he is today.”

    Vivian Kirk, I.D. Designer

    “Hopefully this paves the way for future corporate attorneys to seek leadership positions.”

    Daryl Williams, Information Distributor

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  • Nancy Pelosi Will Not Seek Reelection As Democratic Leader In House

    Nancy Pelosi Will Not Seek Reelection As Democratic Leader In House

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    Nancy Pelosi, who has led Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives for almost two decades, has announced she is standing down from the role, as Republicans are projected to take back control of the House following the midterm elections. What do you think?

    “Time for some young blood to fail us.”

    Chuck Duffy, Hurricane Chaser

    “I sure hope she didn’t take that attempt on her life personally.”

    Britney Yoder, Associate Plumber

    “Doesn’t she know how hard it is for older women to change careers?”

    Elliott Dwyer, Logging Swamper

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