Name: Nancy Pelosi explains her optimism | Today, Explained
Uploaded: 2026-03-21T16:30:51.000Z
Duration: 25 min 30 s
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So question who's the most consequential American elected official over the last, say, 25 years?

But you could say Barack Obama, Mitch McConnell, but

I'd argue Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and congressional leader of Democrats who shepherded countless legislation over the Obama years and some during the Trump years.

her fingerprints are all over the most consequential legislation that have passed through Congress over the last couple decades.

Now, Pelosi is set to retire after this midterm elections, but

before that, I had the chance to talk with her at this year's south by Southwest Conference, and

I wanted to put in front of her all the questions that I had.

What made her stick around Congress after she almost was going to retire in 2016?

And of course, considering the political violence that she's been around from January 6 to what happened in her own family, how does she retain faith in an electorate that seems to consistently be letting her down?

I asked her that and more in front of a packed house in Texas.

We are so grateful that Speaker Pelosi has come to south by Southwest to talk with us at Today Explained.

Now, I'm so excited for this conversation, not just because of the long legacy that you have in Congress in San Francisco, but

also to really get a sense of how you view that legacy yourself.

You kind of mentioned this towards the end.

I know there's a lot of people here at south by that you know, are in their 20s and 30s, are looking to make, are eager to make an impact.

I wanted to know what you, what you learned about timing and purpose from your own career, considering kind of you took a journey to get to where you are.

Well, first of all, I had no intention of running for office.

As I said, I had five children in six years and seven days.

one of them was going to go into senior year in high school, I was approached to run for Congress.

And I said, well, I've never had that ambition.

I loved advancing other people, but I had no ambition myself to be the one on the line.

she was 16, young for going into high senior year, said Alexandra, mommy's been, Mommy's been asked to run for Congress.

If you think I'll tell you what it is, it is, you know, about three nights a week, I'LL be gone when Congress is in session.

Now remember I said, mommy, mother, get a life.

And I had never heard that expression before.

What teenage girl does not want her mother out of the house three nights a week?

And then, then later people asked me to run for leadership and that was another step forward.

That's why I keep saying to young women especially who ask me that, just, just know your why, why you would do it.

And now my why was 1 in 5 children in America goes to sleep hungry at night or lives in poverty.

Because this is a rough and tumble business and you can take the punches if you know why it's happening.

And you can throw the punches for the children if that's your why.

You know, the slogan for your first campaign was Nancy Pelosi, a voice that will be heard.

And when you look back 30, 40ish years later, what does it mean to you now?

Well, it was sort of interesting that they would have that voice that, well, we heard.

The campaign decided that would be it because they know that I knew a lot of people in politics, having been the party chair and that.

And so it worked though, because who would have thought that a voice that would be heard would become the speaker of the House?

So they all take great pride in their people prediction.

What was the transition like going from behind the scenes, you know, as you were organizing chair of the Democratic Party, to making their transition to a candidate yourself.

And specifically, like, you know, how did you deal with the public perception of it all?

See, I don't really like to talk about the past.

So for me, I sort of got used to it right away.

They told me when you go to Congress, you know, you love the issues.

That's what motivates you to be in the political arena and volunteer and recruit candidates and advance them.

You know, you love the issues and that was issue driven.

And that's really, you know, it's not about yourself then, it's about what you're there, your purpose while you're there.

So, you know, certainly the legacy of issues of legislation has been one that is undeniable, from the American Recovery act to Dodd Frank to the Affordable Care act, you have shepherded through legislation that's changed all of our lives.

Now you've been called the most effective speaker in history.

I wanted to know, like, what is the skill or trait that you think made you so effective?

Because we've seen obviously, you know, in Trump years and others, that job ain't so easy.

The thing about it is that when you just, when you're in a legislator, you have one, shall we say, dynamic at work.

You have hearings, you have public comment.

When you become the speaker or the governor or the mayor or whatever.

But the executive position, you then have to act.

And the reason you have to act is because if you don't act immediately, people think, oh, she's going to think about it.

And while she does, we'll take this option away or that option away.

So nine times out of 10, you will be correct or it will work because you, you know, it will work.

And then, then you get the reputation that it will work, and that's that.

But it is, it is really important to just make sure people trust your judgment that you know what you're talking about, you know how to get something done.

The other thing is nothing really happens.

And this is probably goes back to my childhood and being party chair, nothing really good happens unless you have the outside mobilization, inside maneuver, outside mobilization.

And that is like President Lincoln said, I'm quoting a Republican president now, President Lincoln said, public sentiment is everything.

With it, you can accomplish almost anything.

But for public sentiment to prevail, people have to know.

So you must, you have to get it out there and engage public sentiment.

I want to get back to the question of public sentiment.

But before that, you sold CNN's Anderson Cooper, something that I really found interesting.

You said that you thought America, you assumed that America would be much more ready for a woman president than they would be for a woman speaker of the House.

Yeah, because you assume that the Boys Club of Washington was more tight and rigid than maybe the American people's sentiments were.

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Nancy Pelosi explains her optimism | Today, Explained

process

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impact

legacy