Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will not seek reelection next year, capping off a career in Washington that spanned almost four decades. Pelosi, who was the House’s first (and, to date, only) female speaker, made the announcement in a video posted to X on Thursday morning.
Shortly after news of Pelosi’s planned retirement broke, the “Morning Joe” panel shared its thoughts on the 85-year-old California Democrat’s legacy.
“Legend doesn’t begin to cover it,” Jonathan Lemire said of Pelosi and her tenure in Washington. He also highlighted her contentious relationship with Donald Trump and said she “embodied democratic resistance” during the president’s first term.
“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski called Pelosi “a truly historic figure” and noted that she “entered the political arena” later in life, after raising her five children. “She and her family, along with her — by her side — have given so much in all of her years of service,” Brzezinski said.
Joe Scarborough, who served alongside Pelosi in the House from 1995 to 2021, shared memories of working with the Democrat.
“She was a liberal from San Francisco, I was a conservative from Northwest Florida, but every year we would come together and we would fight for human rights in China, religious liberty and religious freedom in China. We would fight to bring attention to the fact that Americans were having their intellectual property stolen by the Chinese year in and year out,” he recalled.
Scarborough praised Pelosi’s work as speaker and her talent for shepherding her party to success. “Nancy Pelosi was a hell of a lot better counting votes as speaker of the House than anybody I ever saw — all the men added together,” he said. “Bills didn’t get on the floor unless they were going to pass.”
He also highlighted Pelosi’s strong Catholic faith. “It’s that faith that’s helped her get through a lot of really tough times,” Scarborough said, referring to the brutal 2022 attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi. “So many in the mainstream of the Republican Party and in these right-wing media echo chambers, laughing, mocking, ridiculing her husband being brutalized in their home,” he said. “But it’s her faith that has gotten her through all of that.” According to Scarborough, “it’s that strength that has made her, I think, quite possibly, the most effective speaker since Sam Rayburn.” You can watch the “Morning Joe” crew’s full reaction in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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