Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is on course to become the oldest person in history to hold the speaker’s gavel now that she has secured a deal to give her at least two more years as the top House of Representatives leader.

Pelosi, now 78, will be almost 81 at the close of the 116th Congress, which ends on Jan. 3, 2021. That will make her nearly a year older than legendary Speaker Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, who died in office less than two months shy of his 80th birthday.

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