Portrait of Nancy Pelosi

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

On January 4, 2007—nearly 90 years after the first woman, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, entered Congress—Nancy Pelosi of California made history by breaking the “marble ceiling” to become the first woman to serve as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. She is the only woman to hold the top three leadership positions in a major political party. Pelosi became the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in Congress in 2001, when she was elected Whip by the Democratic Caucus. A year later, her colleagues elected her Democratic Leader.

Speaker Pelosi has represented California’s 8th District, which includes most of San Francisco, since 1987. She comes from a family with a long history of public service and is one of a handful of women to follow her father into congressional service. Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., represented the city of Baltimore in Congress for five terms before leaving the House in 1947 to serve as Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years. Speaker Pelosi’s brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also served as Mayor of Baltimore.

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