[People in the News] 84-Year-Old 'Queen Maker' Pelosi Who Achieved 20 Selections

Former U.S. House Speaker and Democratic politician Nancy Pelosi secured her 20th term on the 5th (local time) by defeating Republican candidate Bruce Low in the federal House of Representatives election. According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 6th, with 42% of the votes counted in the district, Pelosi received 81% of the votes, leading over Low, who garnered 19%, securing her victory.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Pelosi was born in 1940 into an Italian immigrant family in Baltimore, Maryland. She reportedly nurtured her political dreams by observing the election campaigns of her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, who served as Baltimore's mayor from 1947 to 1959. After graduating from a Catholic mission school, a private all-girls high school, she majored in political science at Trinity College. Shortly after graduating, she married Paul Pelosi, a college classmate, and lived as an ordinary housewife raising five children. They lived in New York while her husband worked in finance, then moved to his hometown of San Francisco, where she joined the Democratic Party. It was former House Representative Sala Burton who recognized Pelosi's potential and designated her as a successor.

At the age of 47 in 1987, she ran for a special election for the federal House seat representing San Francisco and won. Since then, she has never lost in 20 elections held across the 8th, 12th, and currently the 11th districts, reaching the milestone of 20 terms. In 2002, she was elected as the Democratic House Minority Leader. During the George W. Bush administration, the Democrats gained the House majority in the 2006 midterm elections, and in January 2007, Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. At that time, she showed progressive stances such as opposing the Iraq War and expanding healthcare coverage. In 2007, as Speaker, she led the passage of a resolution urging the Japanese government to officially apologize for the issue of comfort women. Under the Obama administration, she led the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After the Republicans took the House majority in the 2010 midterms, she stepped down as Speaker. She returned to lead the House as Speaker of the 116th Congress starting January 3, 2019, after an eight-year hiatus. She was also elected Speaker of the 117th U.S. House of Representatives starting January 3, 2021, serving as Speaker for the fourth time.

Pelosi's philosophy is that "there is nothing healthier for the governance of a country than the full political participation of women." The American weekly magazine The New Yorker named Pelosi as "the most persuasive politician in congressional history." When Pelosi stepped down as Speaker in January 2023, The Wall Street Journal editorialized that "the Republican Party should not just oppose but learn from Pelosi's effective exercise of power."

In her autobiography The Art of Power, Pelosi explained her political principles by saying, "My politics began with respecting voters and listening carefully to their opinions." She emphasized principles such as not wasting time, never underestimating any political resource, and not regretting election defeats, which help maintain political dynamism. Nicknamed the "Queen Maker," Pelosi is also highly regarded for her prowess in political fundraising.