Early yesterday morning, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced her official departure from office. KALW’s Viviana Vivas went out to ask Bay Area residents how they feel about Pelosi’s legacy and their hopes for the next representative.
Nancy Pelosi started her career in the House of Representatives in 1987. In 2007, she became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House.
Pelosi was a key figure in passing the Affordable Care Act and she helped increase the federal minimum wage. She was also accused of insider trading during her run in Congress.
The day of her announcement, I walked to the Ferry Building — past the cars honking, people rushing, and vendors selling goods — to ask locals how the news of her departure was landing.
I ran into San Francisco resident Patricia Rivette [pa-tri-SHA ri-VETT ] as she sat watching the pelicans’ annual October migration with her friend.
“ I think she's left a great legacy, um, what is it, 50 years, almost 50 years of leadership. The only woman twice elected to be Speaker of the House, the thing she did to Trump. I love it. I love it. I love it. Her tearing up his, um, state of the Union address, et cetera.”
Patricia’s friend Gail Abrams chimed in to tell me that she’s lived in San Francisco since the beginning of Nancy Pelosi’s career.
“ Nancy was my representative for many, many years.”
“Great, strong, successful woman, a leader. Um, and her legacy is so long, but just recently, um, I've just been so grateful that she's been there for, you know. Just does a great, has done a consistently great job.”
Atlix Martinez is a full-time artist who was raised in the Castro district. He said he wasn't sure what replacing Pelosi would look like.
“ I'm very open-minded to a lot of things, but when it comes to politics, I think it all needs to be reformed in a very drastic way. So it's really hard to answer that question.”
Scott Wiener and Saikat Chakrabarti both announced their runs for Pelosi’s congressional seat earlier this year. Residents will be able to vote for who will take her place in the 2026 November elections.
