Pelosi, Nancy Patricia

Pelosi, Nancy Patricia Pelosi, Nancy Patricia p?lo ´se [key], 1940â€", U.S. congresswoman, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2007â€"11), b. Baltimore as Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro. The daughter of Thomas J. D'Alesandro, Jr., who served as Baltimore's mayor and a congressman, she moved to California, where she became active in the Democratic party. In 1987 she was was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election. A liberal from San Francisco, she became minority whip in 2001 and, succeeding Dick Gephardt , minority leader in 2003, becoming the first woman to hold high-ranking leadership positions in the U.S. Congress. Democratic victories in the 2006 and 2008 congressional elections led to her election as Speaker of the House; she became the first woman to hold the post. Since 2011 Pelosi has been minority leader, after the Democrats lost their majority. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved . See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies