Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is confident Democrats will regain control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms—and that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will take the speaker’s gavel.
“Hakeem Jeffries is ready, he’s eloquent, he’s respected by the members, he is a unifier,” Pelosi told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in an interview that aired Sunday on This Week.
When Karl asked whether she had any doubt Jeffries would become speaker, Pelosi replied, “None.”
Pelosi, a California Democrat who stepped down from House leadership in November 2022, announced in November that she will not seek reelection in 2026. With about a year remaining in her term, she reflected on her career, her clashes with President Donald Trump, and the path forward for Democrats.
“Right now, the Republicans in the Congress have abolished the Congress,” Pelosi said. “They just do what the president insists that they do. That will be over. That ends as soon as we have the gavel.”
Asked whether Democrats should consider pursuing a third impeachment of Trump if they regain the House, Pelosi said such a move would depend on his actions.
“I’ve said to people, the one person who was responsible for the impeachments of Donald Trump is Donald Trump,” she said. “It’s not something you decide to do—it’s what violation of the Constitution he engages in. So that’s not something you say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna impeach him.’ But you can have the power of subpoena to get information from these agencies of government who are not supplying any information now.”
Pelosi also reflected on her first congressional campaign in 1987, when her slogan was “Nancy Pelosi: A voice that will be heard.”
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” she said. “Isn’t it funny that I would become speaker of the House and, of course, my voice would be heard, but I never thought of that.”
At the time, Pelosi was one of only 23 women serving in the House. She went on to make history as the first woman elected party whip, the first woman to serve as minority leader, and in 2007, the first woman to become speaker—placing her third in the presidential line of succession.
“I actually never intended to run for leadership,” Pelosi said. “I loved my committees—appropriations, intelligence. But we lost in ’94, ’96, ’98, and then it was coming up to 2000. I said, you know, being a former party chair, I know how to win elections. And I’m just tired of losing.”
As speaker, Pelosi played a central role in passing landmark legislation under President Barack Obama, most notably the Affordable Care Act. She said she hopes that achievement defines her legacy.
“I am very proud of the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi said. “It made a big change in terms of what working families need for their health and their financial health. If I were to be remembered for one thing, it would be the Affordable Care Act.”
Her confrontational relationship with Trump, however, is also likely to shape how history remembers her. That includes the widely circulated moment when she tore up her copy of Trump’s final State of the Union address during his first term—an act she said was unplanned.
“I didn’t intend to go to the speech to tear it up,” Pelosi said. “But the first part of it was lying, and then the next page, and then the next page. I thought it was a manifesto of lies all throughout, so I better just tear up the whole speech. I had no intention of doing it. I thought my staff was going to die.”
Pelosi described the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters as the darkest day of her speakership. Her daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, was with her on Capitol Hill and filmed the events as Pelosi was evacuated and congressional leaders struggled for hours to return and certify President Joe Biden’s election victory.
“What’s going through your head?” Karl asked, referring to the footage from that day.
“Well, it was clear that the president of the United States had incited an insurrection,” Pelosi said. “We begged him to send the National Guard. Even Mitch McConnell was on the phone with us saying, get them here right away. But they never sent them.”
She added that Trump’s continued attempts to reframe the events of Jan. 6 have compounded the damage.
“What happened that day was horrible,” Pelosi said. “It was an assault on the Capitol, the symbol of democracy to the world. It was an assault on the Congress and an assault on the Constitution of the United States.”
In a documentary released in 2022, Pelosi said Trump must “pay a price” for the attack. Asked whether he has, she was blunt.
“No,” she said. “He’s president of the United States now. But history will—he’ll pay a price in history.”
After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, the federal cases against him, including charges related to his actions surrounding Jan. 6, were dismissed. Special counsel Jack Smith cited the Justice Department’s presidential immunity policy in seeking dismissal. Trump pleaded not guilty to all federal charges.
With her final year in Congress underway, Pelosi said her focus remains on helping Democrats reclaim the House.
“I’m busy and focused on winning the House for the Democrats, making Hakeem Jeffries the Speaker of the House, and taking us to a better place,” she said.
“By and large, the American people are good people,” Pelosi added. “I’d like to see us get back to a place where governance and politics understand that—where we believe in the goodness of the American people and give them hope.”
