Nancy Pelosi

Background

Nancy Patricia Pelosi was born on March 26, 1940, in Baltimore to an Italian-American family. Her mother, Annunciata M. Nancy D’Alesandro, a native of South Italy, immigrated to the U.S. in 1912, and her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., was a Genoa native. Both her parents were active in politics as her father was a Democratic congressman of Maryland and several years later became the Mayor of Baltimore. In addition, her mother taught her the value of social networking. Her brother Thomas D’Alesandro the Third also became the Mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971 thus, Pelosi was introduced to politics from an early age.

At a young age, Pelosi assisted her father at his campaign events, including attending John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address when he was sworn in as president in January of 1961. In 1958 she graduated from an all-girls catholic high school called the Institute of Notre Dame in Baltimore, and in 1962 she graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., where she achieved a Bachelor of Arts in political science. She continued to intern for Senator Daniel Brewster in the 60s. In 1976 she was elected as a committee member for the Democratic National Committee in California, a position she held until 1996. She was then elected as part chair for Northern California in 1977. Four years later, she was elected the head of the California Democratic Party, which she led until 1983. In 1984 she served as a Host Committee chairwoman in the San Francisco Democratic National Convention and then as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee finance chair from 1985 to 1986.

On January 3, 2021, Pelosi was re-elected for her fourth term as speaker of the House of Representatives. During her second term, she was involved in the passing of the Biden administration’s two major bills — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. She announced in January 2022 that she aims to seek reelection as a U.S. representative that year.