After the Democrats gained a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives following the midterm elections in November 2006,
U.S. Rep.
Nancy
Pelosi
of
California
was unanimously elected speaker of the House of the 110th Congress; she became the first woman to hold the position.
Pelosi
, whose district covered most of the city of
San Francisco
, was often derided by critics who claimed that her "left coast," left-wing politics put her out of touch with most of the country. Her rise to power was no fluke, however. She was a savvy, tough, and pragmatic politician with a talent for building and maintaining coalitions—a talent she had spent a lifetime honing.
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro
was born on March 26, 1940, in
Baltimore, Md.
, the only daughter, and the youngest of six children, of
Thomas J.
D'Alesandro, a politician
and New Deal Democrat. She studied political science at Trinity College,
Washington, D.C.
, receiving an A.B. in 1962. In
Washington
she met Georgetown student
Paul
Pelosi
. They were married in 1963 and moved to
New York
. Five children and six years later, the family moved to
San Francisco
, where
Pelosi
worked as a volunteer Democratic organizer. Earning a reputation as a highly effective fund-raiser, she rose through the ranks, serving on the Democratic National Committee and serving as chair of both the California Democratic Party (1981–83) and the host committee for the 1984 Democratic national convention in
San Francisco
. Along the way,
Pelosi
befriended longtime
U.S. Rep.
Phil
Burton
.
Burton
died in 1983 and was succeeded by his wife,
Sala
, who, shortly before her death in 1987, urged
Pelosi
to run for the seat. She narrowly won a special election and was reelected in 1988 to a full term. Election victories came easily after that in her overwhelmingly Democratic district, which left
Pelosi
plenty of time to raise money for other candidates and further her own career on Capitol Hill.
In 2002 she was elected to minority whip and—using what she referred to as her "mother of five" voice—began pushing for unity among the diverse factions within her party by embracing conservatives and moderates and keeping the liberal wing in check. Still,
Pelosi
held true to her own philosophy throughout her tenure, voting consistently in favour of such liberal causes as gun control and abortion rights while opposing welfare reform and casting votes against the Persian Gulf War and the 2003
U.S.
-led invasion of
Iraq
. Her criticism of
Pres.
George W.
Bush
could be harsh; she once characterized him as an "incompetent leader." In her new role as speaker of the House,
Pelosi
faced her first challenge when Democrats rejected her choice (
John P.
Murtha
) and selected
Steny H.
Hoyer
as their new majority leader.
