Almost since PolitiFact’s 2007 founding, it has been covering Representative Nancy Pelosi, who announced her retirement, effective in January 2027.We first fact-checked the former House speaker on August 25, 2008, when she characterised then-presidential candidate Barack Obama as a state legislator with a history of bipartisanship, a claim we rated Half True. In all, we have rated Pelosi’s statements 56 times on Truth-O-Meter, with a median rating of Half True.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listPolitical analysts consider Pelosi, 85, one of the most effective legislative leaders in recent US history. With small margins, Pelosi was mostly able to keep her caucus united behind legislative goals on healthcare, the environment and other issues.Her ability to raise money for Democrats was one reason she remained as minority leader when she lost her speaker’s gavel after the 2010 midterms and ascended again to speaker in 2018, when the Democrats won the majority. Pelosi lost the speakership when the GOP won the chamber in 2022. She left her leadership position but remained as a rank-and-file member.Pelosi was known for her effectiveness outside the public eye – in Capitol cloakrooms and private dinners. Republicans targeted her sometimes awkward rhetorical style in front of television cameras, combined with her representation of one of the nation’s most liberal districts, in San Francisco.On the internet, Pelosi has been falsely accused of being drunk (many, many times); of spending extravagantly on her hair; of falli …
