Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol has given her a reason to remain in Congress, but she hasn’t yet decided whether to run again next year.
“January 6 is an incentive to stay,” Pelosi, 83, said in an interview Friday in San Francisco. “It was an assault on our democracy, it was an assault on our Constitution.”
As rioters seeking to undo the result of the 2020 presidential election stormed the Capitol, she and other lawmakers were evacuated to a secure location, where they made urgent calls seeking assistance.
At the Capitol, crowds shouted “Nancy, Nancy” and breached her office, while her staff hid in nearby rooms.
Pelosi, a Democrat, said she hasn’t discussed the prospect of seeking her 20th term in Congress with her husband, Paul Pelosi, who suffered a fractured skull after being attacked by a hammer-wielding intruder in the couple’s San Francisco home in October.
“I want him to get well first,” Pelosi said.
The uncertainty over Pelosi’s plans has fueled speculation over her San Francisco-based seat, which she’s held since 1987.
The first woman to serve as House speaker, Pelosi lost the post when Republicans took control of the chamber in the 2022 midterm elections. She then stepped down as the chamber’s Democratic leader, and was succeeded by Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Her campaign had about $3.6 million cash on hand at the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
--With assistance from Laura Davison.
