House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday morning that she intends to run for minority leader again and will remain the figurehead for Democrats in the House until 2014.
It was originally unclear whether Pelosi, 72, who has been the top House Democrat for 10 years, would use 2012 as a chance to step down especially after her wild predictions that the Democrats would finally win majority in the House.
Recommended Stories
Pelosi is most likely hoping for a mid-term election rally in order to redeem herself from the embarrassing 2010 episode where she was forced to give up the Speaker of the House gavel to John Boehner and an overwhelmingly Republican floor.
“The message is clear from the American people. They want us to work together to get things done. And that’s what these folks are here to do. Just like all of you,” Pelosi said, according to the notes taken a Democrat in the room as reported on The Washington Post. “We may not have the gavel, but as I can see in this room, we have the unity.”
Her announcement comes as a shock to many political analysts and commentators who thought that Pelosi might use Barack Obama’s re-election as a chance to retire on a high note and spend the rest of her years with her eight grandchildren.
Fox News political commentator Tucker Carlson said that the second-straight failure of the Democrats to win the House would most likely spell the end of Pelosi’s career.
Then again, many thought the Democrats’ loss of the House in 2010 would prompt her to retire, but leaving without the House in her grasp is clearly not something Pelosi is willing to do.
Her reelection to the position is all but guaranteed as Pelosi must still win a secret vote from her Democratic colleagues. But it is likely that she will pass that test with flying colors.
