After 20 Years, Nancy Pelosi Will Step Down As Top House Democrat

The NPR Politics Podcast

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Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Pelosi, 82, is honoring a pledge she made in 2018 to pass the baton after another two terms at the party's helm. She says she will remain in Congress to help guide the party's transition to new leadership.

This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh, and political correspondent Susan Davis.

This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Fact-checking by Katherine Swartz.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Bran Johnson and today is my first day at my internship at the United States
0:06.4	Capital. This podcast was recorded at 113 pm Eastern time on Thursday, November 17th.
0:15.2	Things may have changed for the time you hear this but I still won't be over how breathtaking
0:19.7	the United States Capital Building is. Okay, here's the show.
0:22.7	She sure is pretty. It is a pretty beautiful space. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics podcast.
0:32.5	I must not call it I cover the White House. I'm Susan Davis, I cover politics and I'm dear
0:36.8	Der Walsh, I cover Congress. And today on the show, we've got news that Nancy Pelosi is stepping
0:42.1	down as the top House Democrat after leading her party for two decades. She announced this all
0:47.6	in a speech just a bit ago on the House floor. My friends no matter what title you all,
0:52.9	my colleagues have bestowed upon me speaker, leader, whip. There is no greater official honor for me
1:00.6	than to stand on this floor and to speak for the people of San Francisco. This I will continue
1:07.2	to do as a member of the House speaking for the people of San Francisco serving the great state of
1:13.4	California and defending our Constitution. And with great confidence in our caucus, I will not
1:20.9	seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress. For me, the hours come for a new
1:27.3	generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect. And I'm grateful that so many
1:34.6	are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility. Do you know I want to start with
1:41.2	you because you were there listening to all of this. Can you just lay out for us what the atmosphere
1:47.0	was like? So I was in the reporter's gallery which is above the floor and you can sort of see the
1:52.5	whole House floor. You can see where Pelosi was speaking and you can see how members are reacting.
1:58.6	It was very orchestrated. Pelosi had the whole House Democratic side of the floor was completely
2:04.8	packed, standing room only on that side of the floor. On the Republican side of the chamber,
2:09.9	it was largely empty. There were some incoming Republican freshmen who were in town for orientation
	...

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