House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to resign her position and leave the House of Representatives, according to a stunning new report from The Atlantic.
Her replacement will likely be Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Pelosi will announce she’s stepping down “probably after next year’s midterm elections.”
Jeffries is poised to take her place, The Atlantic’s Edward-Isaac Dovere reported.
But he won’t be anointed without a fight.
“Her top deputies, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, aspire to her job, but they’re also in their early 80s, and most Democrats in and out of Congress are counting on them to step aside too,” Dovere wrote.
“Of course, they all have stock responses denying that anyone is ever going anywhere. But the day is coming.”
The drama is well-known to Democratic Party insiders — and an open secret. They’re reportedly trying to keep the news from becoming public, however, and actively deny it to any journalist.
“Democratic members of Congress won’t talk about any of this publicly, as if Pelosi might suddenly appear and pull their hearts from their chests,” Dovere said.
This isn’t the first time Pelosi has prepared to walk away from her position. In fact, the 81-year-old Pelosi has flirted with retirement numerous times in recent years.
She has spent over three decades of her life in Washington, D.C.
During the 2016 election, Pelosi had planned on leaving Congress but experienced “physical” shock when former President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton and was elected as the 45th president.
Pelosi “intended to step back from elective office once Hillary was in the White House,” USA Today reported in April. “That idea was instantly shelved.”
With President Joe Biden scheduled to be in office until 2024, Pelosi may finally feel ready to step down.
But the timing remains far from certain.
“Everyone assumes this is her last term, but no one knows for sure,” an insider told CNN. “People don’t realize how hard it was to win [the House speaker position] last time.”
[READ MORE] Nancy Pelosi talks retirement
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