Pelosi sets stage for 2026 reelection run to return as Trump antagonist
By
Samantha-Jo Roth
November 14, 2024 3:00 pm
The 84-year-old filed a statement of candidacy Thursday with the Federal Election Commission after winning a 20th term last week. A spokesperson for Pelosi declined to say whether she is running for reelection, but the paperwork is an early indication of her intentions.
Trump’s reelection could have had a role in persuading her to stay in office, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle. On a House Democratic Caucus call following the election, Pelosi suggested Democrats replicate the work of a group created during the last Trump administration that focused on defending the Affordable Care Act.
In a New York Times interview after the election, Pelosi did not answer directly whether this term would be her last but indicated that she intends to continue to be a fighting force.
“I’m not here to talk about that,” Pelosi told the New York Times. “I’m here to fight the fight so that we win in the next election. I must have thought I had the last term over and over again, but as fate would have it, the mission called.”
The Federal Election Commission, which sets rules for election campaign spending, requires the “Statement of Candidacy” form when candidates raise or spend $5,000 in an election cycle. Pelosi, a consummate fundraiser who brought in more than $8.3 million in her 2024 reelection, would have hit the threshold already for the 2026 election cycle to trigger the filing.
The two-time speaker was one of President-elect Donald Trump’s major antagonists when she served as speaker during his first term. When Trump takes office once again, it will mark the first time she is not a member of leadership during a Republican administration since George W. Bush’s first term.
The San Francisco mother of five is seen as the main figure who helped end President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, although she has denied playing a significant role.
Pelosi, who stepped aside as the House Democratic leader in 2022 to allow a new generation of leaders in the caucus to rise, appears to be at the peak of her power and has been known to be a masterful playmaker behind the scenes.
