In January, Nancy Pelosi replaced Paul Ryan as the Speaker of the House of Representative. Pelosi is seen as an important political figure and an inspiration to many people for a multitude of reasons.
She has been involved in politics all her life.
Nancy Pelosi’s father was a Democratic congressman and became the mayor of Baltimore. She helped her father organize his events, and her mother and brother were involved in politics, too. At Trinity College in Washington D.C., Pelosi majored in political science and met her husband, Paul. They moved to San Francisco where she was selected to be a Democratic National Committee member.
She became the highest-ranking woman in congressional history.
In 1987, she was elected to the U.S. Congress. In 2001, Pelosi became the first woman to be the House minority whip. In 2002, she was the first woman to be elected the House minority leader.
She was the first woman to be Speaker of the House.
Pelosi was first elected Speaker of the House after the Democrats took control in 2007. Not only did she become the first woman to hold this position but was also the first Italian-American and Californian to be the Speaker! In 2019, when the Democrats regained control of the House, Pelosi once again became Speaker of the House. She was the first person in 60 years to return to the speaker’s chair. The last person to do this was Democrat Sam Rayburn, with whom Pelosi ties as the oldest person ever elected speaker and the oldest to hold the post.
Her role is extremely important, considering the Speaker of the House is third in line to the presidency, second to the vice president.
She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
In 2013, Pelosi was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame along with nine other women. Pelosi was celebrated for her 25 years in politics, as well as being the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. Pelosi is very involved in women’s rights; she advocates for equal pay for women, affordable health care and paid family leave.
She set a record for the longest speech on the House Floor.
Last year, Nancy Pelosi spoke in front of Congress for a little over eight hours (yes, you read that correctly). Her goal was to gain votes for immigration legislation that would protect the young, undocumented immigrants in the United States, known as Dreamers, and she read hundreds of personal letters from them. Pelosi, at 77 years old, gave her eight-hour speech with no breaks and while wearing four-inch heels. It was the longest speech ever delivered in the House chambers since at least 1909.
No matter your political views, we can all agree that Nancy Pelosi is definitely making her mark on the United States. Though her time as Speaker of the House has been short, she has already made an impact.
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