A recent arrest for hit-and-run in Napa Valley, along with a 2022 DUI arrest, may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dangerous driving behavior of Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul.
The New York Times has uncovered that preceding the 2022 DUI incident that led to jail time, Paul Pelosi had a record of multiple, dangerous moving violations over a 13-year period.
Records show that Paul Pelosi, the 86-year-old husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had at least eight traffic violations over a 13-year period before his recent Napa Valley crash this year. https://t.co/OP32njfmyK
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 16, 2026
According to the report, the eight violations date back to 2011 and span to 2017; some are minor lapses, others, potentially dangerous.
An excerpt from the investigative report read as follows:
In 2011, Mr. Pelosi received three tickets and a warning in a five-month span alone. In May of that year, he was cited for speeding on a highway in San Mateo County. Two months later, he was caught crossing over double yellow lines near the family’s Napa Valley house and received a verbal warning for speeding during the same traffic stop. Less than two months after that, he was cited for failing to stop at a red light, also in Napa County.
In 2013, in San Mateo County, Mr. Pelosi drove through a red turn light. That same year, in San Francisco, he was pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign, but that citation was later dismissed. In Marin, Mr. Pelosi used his cellphone without a hands-free device in 2014, and drove the wrong way down a one-way street in 2017.
A lawyer for Mr. Pelosi, Amanda Bevins, would not comment on the infractions, nor on whether the Department of Motor Vehicles had been made aware of the lingering effects of a head injury Mr. Pelosi suffered during the home invasion nearly four years ago. A representative for Ms. Pelosi also declined to comment.
His latest slew of driving mishaps also includes when he pleaded guilty in 2022 to a misdemeanor DUI after crashing his Porsche, and a court handed him five days in jail and three years of probation, according to the Associated Press (AP).
During the 2022 incident, Pelosi allegedly reeked of booze, was unsteady on his feet, and slurred his words when officers arrived at the scene of the crash and found him sitting in the driver’s seat, according to reports.
His blood alcohol content was measured at 0.082%.
Earlier this month, Pelosi was charged with a misdemeanor after allegedly running into a parked Tesla in Yountville, near his Napa Valley property.
According to reports, Pelosi kept driving, and only stopped when his car wouldn’t move because of the damage from the impact of the hit. The Tesla he allegedly ran into lost its rear bumper, and one tire was pushed up onto the curb.
However, the report noted that this latest incident “has alarmed some longtime friends and acquaintances, who say that Mr. Pelosi has been reluctant to give up the freedom of getting behind the wheel.”
In 2022, an intruder broke into his Pacific Heights, San Francisco, home and struck him in the head with a hammer, resulting in a fractured skull and other severe injuries.
Now, insiders close to the Pelosi family worry that his sustained injuries from that attack could be contributing to his dangerous and erratic behavior behind the wheel.
According to The Times report, two years after the attack, Mr. Pelosi said in a statement that he suffered persistent dizziness and vertigo that caused him to fall twice in his home.
“To this day, I walk slowly and have difficulty with my balance,” Mr. Pelosi said in the statement.
“Nearly every day I get headaches that become migraines unless quickly addressed. I need to sleep during the day and cannot tolerate bright lights or loud noises for extended periods of time,” he said.
Mr. Pelosi said that the attack had also left him with nerve damage to his left hand which, for months, made “basic tasks like using buttons, cutlery and simple tools more difficult.”
The Department of Motor Vehicles said that, for privacy reasons, it could not respond to questions about whether or not Mr. Pelosi’s doctors had reported his head injury to the department.
And it did not respond to a separate public records request seeking Mr. Pelosi’s full driving record before publication of this article.