Pelosi To Step Away From Leadership Role, Plans To Stay In Congress

CALIFORNIA — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will not seek a leadership position in the new Congress. She will step aside after leading Democrats for nearly two decades.

The news comes after last month's violent attack on her husband, Paul, in their San Francisco home.

The California Democrat, who is the nation’s first woman to hold the speaker's post, said she would remain in Congress as the representative from San Francisco, a position she has held for 35 years, when the new Congress convenes in January.

“Now we must move boldly into the future,” Pelosi said. “The hour has come for a new generation.”

Pelosi's announcement comes one day after Republicans gained control of the House, according to projections from the Associated Press.

The Democrat noted that House Democrats will have “strong leverage over a scant Republican majority.”

Pelosi first became speaker in 2007, saying she had cracked the “marble ceiling,” after Democrats swept to power in the 2006 midterm elections in a backlash to then-President George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is the first woman to become speaker and the only person in decades to be elected twice to the post.

By announcing her decision Thursday, Pelosi could launch a domino effect in House Democratic leadership ahead of internal party elections next month as Democrats reorganize as the minority party for the new Congress.

Her decision Thursday paves the way for House Democratic leadership elections next month when Democrats reorganize as the minority party for the new Congress.

READ MORE: With Victory In California, The GOP Captures The House

On Tuesday, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California overwhelmingly won the Republican nomination for speaker.

"The goal when I became leader four years ago was to win the majority,” he said, adding that the Republicans were on the track to do so, the New York Times reported.

The man accused of brutally attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer — David Wayne DePape — pleaded not guilty in a San Francisco federal court on Tuesday.

DePape wanted to break Nancy Pelosi's kneecaps to show other lawmakers there were "consequences to their actions," according to the Department of Justice.

DePape’s assault charge carries a maximum 30-year prison sentence, and his kidnapping charge carries an additional 20 years maximum, the department said.

READ MORE: Pelosi Attack Suspect Pleads Not Guilty To Federal Charges

David Wayne DePape, the man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, wanted to break Nancy Pelosi's kneecaps, officials said.

Pelosi’s leadership team, with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, has long moved as a triumvirate. All now in their 80s, the three House Democratic leaders have faced restless colleagues eager for them to step aside and allow a new generation to take charge.

“It is the time for a new generation of leaders” Hoyer said, also announcing that he will also step down from leadership but stay in Congress. But Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress, said he plans to stay in Congress next year and hopes to remain at the leadership table.