Nancy Pelosi.. The "Iron Lady" in the men arena

Shafaq News / Nancy Pelosi is not an ordinary figure in American politics. Many consider her as the "Iron Lady" who has become the most powerful woman in Washington, since day one of her political life at age 47.

Pelosi was re-elected speaker of the House of Representatives on January 3, 2021, and is the first and only woman to date to hold this post.. yet her road was not an easy one.

At the age of 20, she attended former president John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech in 1961. Since then, she lived through the successive U.S. presidents (Ronald Regan, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump) - whether through her limited activity as an advocate for the Democratic Party with the events she was organizing at her home or in her state, or her gradual rise in the political ladder.

Pelosi grew up in Baltimore, the daughter of mayor Thomas di Alessandro and his wife, Anunshata, who were Democratic party activists. Her father entered Congress as a representative of Maryland, and her brother, Thomas, was later elected mayor of Baltimore in 1967. She was still 12 years old when she attended the first national convention for the Democratic nomination.

Her husband, Paul, works in the banking sector and is far from politics.

In 1969, Nancy and Paul moved to San Francisco and were focusing on caring for their five children, while she opened a club at home to work in support of the Democratic Party.

As part of her broader political work, she trained with Democratic Senator Daniel Brewster, worked for presidential candidate Jerry Brown campaign in 1976, and in 1981 she was one of the party's most prominent faces in California, working out of the spotlight to raise money and party donations in the state known for its "left-wing" leanings.

When she was 47 years old - and after her last children left for college - Nancy was encouraged to break into the political scene after a congresswoman's death opened her succession battle's door to Pelosi.. she organized 100 fundraising events at her home, recruited 4,000 volunteer activists to support her, and raised 1 million dollars in just seven weeks.

Pelosi defeated a more prominent opponent in the San Francisco election. In June 1978, she took her first oath as a state lawmaker. In the early 1980s, she became the party's president in California.

One of the first and most prominent issues Pelosi raised at the beginning of her parliamentary career in San Francisco was AIDS and sexual freedom. Topics that were unpopular at the national level. She was also among lawmakers who fought against gun laws and imposed restrictions on assault weapons' possession in 1994. She was also known for her opposition to the Iraqi war, and the George W. Bush administration and its attempts to privatize Social Insurance.

One of Pelosi's oldest and biggest supporters is E&J Gallo Winery, the producer of 25% of the United States' wine. Pelosi herself owns two vineyards in California.

She first entered Congress in 1987 and led Democrats as a minority in the House from 2003 to 2007 – she was the first American woman to do so - and repeated it between 2011 and 2019. She held the House of Representatives' presidency between 2007 and 2011, and then in 2019 after democrats became a majority.

Pelosi's path has been long and arduous, but through her fundraising skills and her sixth political sense - according to Business Insider - she has broken gender barriers and made her way to the U.S. Congress.

In February 2020, she became famous for tearing Donald Trump's State of the Union speech, calling the speech "filthy". Her relationship with Trump has not been good at all.. in 2019, she tried to isolate him through Congress, but she backtracked after she said that moving forward with the impeachment measures would further divide Americans.

Pelosi and Trump frequently exchanged criticism, and he did so on his Twitter account - which was blocked a few days ago. Last September - before the presidential election - surveillance cameras showed Pelosi visiting a hair salon in San Francisco, moving around without wearing a medical mask. Trump took the opportunity to tweet, "Crazy Nancy Pelosi is risking her reputation to get one of the hair salons to open while the others are closed; without wearing a mask, while she gives everyone lessons about wearing it all the time".

Now that Trump's supporters have stormed Congress, Pelosi is determined to deal a final blow to the Republican president - whom she has long accused of being deranged, unhinged, and dangerous. She succeeded in removing the president in the House of Representatives - as part of an emergency move – because "this president is an imminent threat" to the Constitution and democracy, which is under "terrible attack", but the final word will be in the Senate.

Pelosi may succeed or fail in her new political battle, but in both cases, she will cement her image as an "Iron Lady", fierce in her fight for the Democratic Party.

She is now preparing for a new term in the House of Representatives, less difficult with Joe Biden's arrival.