Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the nation’s first and only female speaker of the House and a lifelong LGBTQ ally, announced Thursday that she will not seek re-election next year, after 38 years in Congress, many of them as House party leader.

“I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress, and I have always honored the song of St. Francis, ‘Lord make an instrument of thy peace,’ the anthem of our city. That is why I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know. I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” Pelosi, 85, announced in a video.

Pelosi’s time in Congress began with the AIDS crisis, and she has kept up the fight ever since, as the Washington Blade reported in an exclusive and wide-ranging 2023 interview conducted just after she left House leadership.

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