Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to an Italian-American family. She was the only daughter and the youngest of six children of Annunciata M. "Nancy" D'Alesandro (née Lombardi) and Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. Her mother, originating from Fornelli in Southern Italy, emigrated to the U.S. in 1912; her father traced his Italian ancestry to Genoa, Venice and Abruzzo.

At the time of Pelosi's birth, her father was a Democratic congressman representing Maryland. He became mayor of Baltimore seven years later. Pelosi's mother was also active in politics, organizing Democratic women and teaching her daughter political skills. Her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, a Democrat, was elected Baltimore City Council president and later mayor, serving from 1967 to 1971. As a child, Pelosi helped her father at his campaign events. Her affiliation with liberalism sprouted in the 1960s; she was particularly impressed by President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address.

In 1958, Pelosi graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame, an all-girls Catholic high school in Baltimore. She graduated from Trinity College four years later with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Pelosi interned for Maryland senator Daniel Brewster in the 1960s alongside future House majority leader Steny Hoyer.

After moving to San Francisco, Pelosi became friends with 5th district congressman Phillip Burton. In 1976, she was elected as a Democratic National Committee member from California, a position she would hold until 1996. She was elected party chair for Northern California in 1977 and four years later was selected to head the California Democratic Party, which she led until 1983. Pelosi served as the San Francisco Democratic National Convention Host Committee chairwoman in 1984 and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee finance chair from 1985 to 1986.

Phillip Burton died in 1983 and his wife, Sala Burton, won a special election to fill the remainder of her husband's congressional term and was reelected to two more terms. Burton decided not to run for reelection in 1988 and wanted Pelosi to succeed her, guaranteeing Pelosi the support of the Burtons' contacts. After Sala Burton's death, Pelosi won the special election to succeed her.

Pelosi has continued to represent approximately the same area of San Francisco for her entire congressional career, despite the boundaries shifting marginally in decennial post-reapportionment redistrictings. This area has been represented in the House by Democrats uninterruptedly since 1949, and is strongly Democratic-leaning (as of 2006, 13% of registered voters in the boundaries of Pelosi's district were Republican). It has not seen a serious Republican congressional contender since the early 1960s. Pelosi has been reelected to the House 18 times without any substantive opposition. Unlike in her 1987 campaign, Pelosi has not participated in candidates' debates in her reelection campaigns. In her first seven reelection campaigns (from 1988 through 2004), she won an average of 80% of the vote.

When Pelosi took office, there were only 23 women in the House. The AIDS epidemic was at a dire point. San Francisco was greatly affected; its large population of gay men was the epidemic's initial epicenter. Beginning in her first term, Pelosi became a prominent congressional advocate on behalf of those impacted by HIV/AIDS. Shortly after she took office, she hired a gay man as her congressional office's director of AIDS policy. In her first floor speech, Pelosi promised that she would be an advocate in the fight against what she called "the crisis of AIDS". With great stigma around the subject, some in her party privately chastised her for associating herself with it. Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White CARE Act, which allocated funding dedicated to providing treatment and services for those impacted by HIV/AIDS. President George H. W. Bush signed the bill into law in December 1990.

Pelosi voted for the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987. …

On November 29, 2022, the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Democratic Caucus honorarily named Pelosi "speaker emerita" in the upcoming 118th U.S. Congress. Her second speakership, and her participation in the House Democratic Party leadership, concluded on January 3, 2023, at the end of the 117th Congress.

Amid concerns about President Biden's reelection prospects in the 2024 presidential election, Pelosi and other Democratic officials urged him to withdraw his candidacy before the party's National Convention. She feared that his faltering candidacy might not only result in Trump's victory but also have a coattail effect that could bring Democrats defeat in the coinciding House and Senate elections, producing a Republican government trifecta. On July 10, Pelosi said the party encouraged Biden to make the decision because time was running out. He withdrew from the race on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's presidential nominee. Before Biden withdrew, Pelosi had told other California congressional Democrats that she believed a competitive "open process" should determine the new Democratic candidate. She endorsed Harris within one day. Although Harris did not win any primary elections, Pelosi insisted that the process that led to Harris's nomination was a "primary": "We had an open primary, and she won it. Nobody else got in the race." After Harris lost to Trump, Pelosi blamed Biden's late exit from the race and the lack of an open Democratic primary.

Pelosi is a member of the House Baltic Caucus and the Congressional Equality Caucus.

On November 6, 2025, Pelosi announced she would not seek reelection and would retire from the House of Representatives in 2027.

Nancy D'Alesandro met Paul Francis Pelosi while she was attending college. They married in Baltimore at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on September 7, 1963. They then moved to New York, followed by a move to San Francisco in 1969, where her husband's brother Ronald Pelosi was a member of the City and County of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.

Nancy and Paul Pelosi have five children, including Christine and Alexandra, and nine grandchildren. Alexandra, a journalist, covered the Republican presidential campaigns in 2000 and made a film about the experience, Journeys with George. In 2007, Christine published a book, Campaign Boot Camp: Basic Training for Future Leaders.

Pelosi resides in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Her 2016 financial disclosure report lists among her assets a combined home and vineyard in St. Helena, California, two commercial buildings in San Francisco, and a townhouse in Loomis, California. In January 2021, her San Francisco home was vandalized with graffiti, messages of "[c]ancel rent" were left on her garage, along with fake blood and a severed pig's head.

Pelosi's husband, Paul, is a wealthy investor and the primary source of the couple's wealth. In 2009, OpenSecrets estimated Pelosi's net worth at $58 million, making her the 13th-wealthiest member of Congress. Business Insider reported that Pelosi's net worth was $26.4 million in 2012 and made her the 13th-richest member of Congress. In 2014, OpenSecrets reported Pelosi's net worth had almost doubled, to about $101 million, making her the eighth-richest. In 2018, Roll Call estimated Pelosi's net worth at $16.0 million, making her the 30th-richest member. As of 2021, Pelosi's net worth was valued at $120 million, making her the sixth-richest person in Congress.

Roll Call said Pelosi's earnings are connected to her husband's heavy investments in stocks that include Apple, Disney, Comcast and Facebook. Roll Call reported that the couple have $13.46 million in liabilities including mortgages on seven properties. According to Roll Call, Pelosi and her husband hold properties "worth at least $23 million, including a St. …