Nancy Pelosi announces retirement from Congress
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has announced her retirement from Congress after decades in office.
Prominent Republicans this week shamed Republican leaders by claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “as effective a speaker as any Republican in this century,” arguing that the party should learn from her leadership, and claiming that the party is alienating rank-and-file members, including women.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, which covers part of Charleston, said the problem is that voting in areas with “bipartisan supermajorities” makes it nearly impossible to pass legislation.
In a New York Times op-ed published Monday, Dec. 8, Mace wrote that he came to Congress five years ago “believing that I could make a difference for my constituents, South Carolina, and the country I love so deeply,” but found that “the House system fosters control by party leaders over accountability and performance.”
Mace, 48, will be the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state in 2021 and criticized President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. But since then, she has become one of his closest allies.
“No one can be held accountable for inaction. So far, very little has been done,” Mace wrote in an opinion piece titled “What’s Congress’ Point?” “The obstacles to accomplishing almost anything are enough to make any member who came to Washington with noble intentions ask, ‘Why am I here?'”
Pelosi, an outspoken critic of President Trump, is a former speaker of the House of Representatives and announced her retirement in November. The staunch liberal lawmaker from San Francisco served two terms as the highest ranking lawmaker, from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023.
In October, California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat whose district includes part of San Francisco, launched a campaign to vacate the seat. Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is also vying for the position.
During Pelosi’s tenure, she led two impeachments of Trump, led a coordinated effort to convince former President Joe Biden to withdraw his bid for a second term, and pushed through the Affordable Care Act, the largest health care expansion in half a century.
“The hard truth that Republicans don’t want to hear.”
Mace, who launched his campaign for South Carolina governor on Aug. 4, said his claims about Pelosi and control of the House are “hard truths that Republicans don’t want to hear.”
Representative Ralph Norman, Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evett, and State Sen. Josh Kimbrel are also running as Republicans in the South Carolina gubernatorial race.
“I fundamentally disagree with her (Pelosi) on nothing, but she understood what we don’t: that majorities are not permanent,” Mace wrote. “When Democrats have a majority, they push the most progressive policies possible. They contribute to the coalition that elected them while in power.”
Republicans are doing the opposite, Mace lamented.
“We gain a majority and are terrified of losing it. We pass the most moderate policies we can force conservatives to accept, and we are betraying the coalition that got us here. Pelosi has been ruthless, but things are getting worse. The current House is limited and ineffective, and the Republican leadership seems intent on replicating her unification model without her bold vision to push the policies that won her the majority.
Mace also argued that opening up the chamber would lead to the passage of more conservative legislation as well as more bipartisan legislation, adding that only 5% of bills introduced this year have received a floor vote.
Doing so, she said, would allow some of the Republican priorities to “finally get votes.”
“Common sense bipartisan measures would do the same,” Mace wrote. “The key is to do more and make sure voters understand what their representatives stand for. What we have now is a dire situation with very little accountability, transparency and results.”
Contributors: Susan Page and Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
