It was a “Nancy Pelosi-palooza” in San Francisco over the weekend, as thousands of California Democrats gathered in her beloved city by the bay, a place the former speaker of the House has represented in Congress for nearly four decades. They were there to attend the state party’s annual convention – but with Pelosi retiring at the end of the term, it was also a days-long celebration of a woman many Democrats regard as a living legend.
A video salute during the general session charted her rise from a stay-at-home mom to the US House of Representatives, where she shattered the marble ceiling and became the first – and to this day only – woman to wield the speaker’s gavel. Tote bags were emblazoned with her silhouette in every color of the rainbow – a nod to her trailblazing advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community. It also included one of her favorite aphorisms: “We don’t agonize, we organize.”
In her own remarks at the convention, the 85-year-old offered little reflection on her own career. Instead, Pelosi, whom her longtime political ally and senator Adam Schiff described as being “almost allergic to recognition”, remained characteristically focused on the future of the party she helped build and lead.
She expressed “absolute certainty and confidence” that Democrats would capture the House majority in November – propelled by California’s new congressional maps that she helped deliver in a resounding victory last fall – and that her successor, Hakeem Jeffries, would become the next speaker of the House.
“Trump’s reign of terror must end,” she declared.
Over dinner and fine California wine, a slate of prominent Golden State Democrats, including the revered labor leader and civil rights activist, 95-year-old Dolores Huerta, took turns recalling Pelosi’s “iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove” leadership, her witticisms and her tenacity as well as her well-documented love of dark chocolate and a seemingly preternatural need for extremely little sleep. She was hailed by colleagues, mentees and fellow Democrats as the most consequential speaker in modern history – the Baltimore-born pride of San Francisco.
Pelosi announced her decision to retire late last year, saying her 20th term would be her last. Three Democrats are vying for the chance to succeed Pelosi – but certainly not replace, as locals distinguish, arguing that wouldn’t be possible.
The Democrats running for her seat are candidates state senator Scott Wiener, city supervisor Connie Chan and former Silicon Valley engineer Saikat Chakrabarti. During the convention, Wiener won the state party’s endorsement, but Pelosi has not weighed in.
On Saturday night, Pelosi was praised for her success in twisting Republican arms into submission and going “toe-to-toe” with presidents and world leaders. Schiff quoted one of Pelosi’s staffers who said the former speaker was both doting and fearless, a grandmother who didn’t hesitate to put “her four-inch Manolos up Putin’s ass”.
California Democrats also lauded her for transforming the state into a bastion of blue, first as a state party chair and then later as a congresswoman and speaker. Under California’s new redistricting law which she helped champion, Democrats are poised to hold as many as 48 of the state’s 52 House seats.
Several speakers shared memorable advice Pelosi had offered over the years, and reveled in some of her signature clapbacks. A crowd favorite was her maxim that in politics, you must be able to take a punch and throw a punch, “but always for the children”, California congressman Pete Aguilar said.
Rusty Hicks, chair of the California state party, said he had asked Pelosi, a sports fan, if there were any lessons from “sideline coaching” she could apply to politics. In basketball, she said: “When in doubt, shoot – and always be in doubt.”
Lieutenant governor Eleni Kounalakis recalled her favorite “Pelosi-ism”. Now Pelosi prefers “know your power,” but originally Kounalakis said Pelosi would say “know thy power” as if it were the “11th commandment”.
Kounalakis hailed Pelosi for transforming the political landscape for women – working to not only expand the number of women on Capitol Hill, but their power and rank as well. There were only 23 women in Congress when Pelosi was first elected in 1987. Now there are 150.
In the final, emotional tribute of the evening, Schiff praised Pelosi as a peerless leader with a rare talent for persuading “people to do the right thing at the right time and for the right reason”.
Schiff said the nickname “Iron Lady” hardly touched Pelosi’s resilience and fearlessness: “Margaret Thatcher’s got nothing on Nancy Pelosi.”
As he spoke, Schiff acknowledged the length of his remarks and quipped that if he didn’t conclude quickly Pelosi might tear up his speech as she had done with Trump’s State of the Union address during his first term.
Pelosi walked to the podium with her remarks and then thought better of it. “You know what? I think I’ll just tear up this speech,” she said, ripping her prepared remarks in half. She said she preferred to speak “off-the-cuff”.
“Thank you all so much for being who you are,” Pelosi said, visibly moved by the evening. “Just the best of it all – to win elections and to make life better for the American people.”
She offered more advice, emphasizing the importance of grassroots mobilization, and credited the persistence of advocacy groups for pushing the Affordable Care Act, a capstone legislative achievement, across the finish line. “I always say we had the nuns,” Pelosi, a devout Catholic, recalled of the herculean effort to pass healthcare reform. “Thank God we had the nuns.”
And she praised her city – waving off its critics: “It’s their problem. It’s our pride.” She expressed gratitude to the people of San Francisco for giving her the “latitude” to be speaker and represent the city’s values on a national and global stage.
Pelosi was cognizant, of course, that she is stepping back as those values are under growing threat from an unbound president whose administration is determined to dismantle the progressive policies she spent her life fighting for. Yet she remained undaunted, asking the Democrats in the room to“believe in the goodness of the American people”.
“Hope is our resistance,” she said, “And our resistance gives us hope.”
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