A 29th House Democrat is not running for re-election this year as Nancy Pelosi announced she will be on the ballot again, ending months of speculation the powerful speaker will retire.
Pelosi, a prolific fundraiser, will be on hand to help rally Democrats in November's election as polls show Republicans have an advantage heading into the midterm.
But her job is growing more difficult with the lost list of her lawmakers retiring, citing the exhaustion with bipartisanship in Washington, acknowledging the possiblity of being the minority party next year and frustration with the state of their 2022 race after the mandatory redistricting process.
Tennessee Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper announced Tuesday he will not seek another term and blasted Republicans' in his state's General Assembly for 'dismembering Nashville' in the once-a-decade redistricting process.
His announcement comes after the Republican-controlled state assembly in Tennessee split his Nashville district into three other congressional districts.
'Despite my strength at the polls, I could not stop the General Assembly from dismembering Nashville,' Cooper said in a statement Tuesday. 'No one tried harder to keep our city whole. I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three new congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There's no way, at least for me in this election cycle, but there may be a path for other worthy candidates.'
Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennesse is the 29th Democrat to announce he's not running for re-election this year
Cooper will have served 32 years in Congress when he retires next January.
Republicans said his retirement is the latest sign Democrats are uncertain about their party's prospects in November.
'Democrats' retirement crisis shows no signs of slowing down,' National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Camille Gallo said in a statement.
An NBC News poll released Monday indicated that Republicans are more enthusiastic about this year's elections. The poll found that 61 per cent of GOP respondents said they are very interested in the coming midterms, compared to 47 per cent of Democrats.
Meanwhile, Pelosi announced Tuesday that she would be seeking another term in the House.
The 81-year-old Democratic leader said she was running for a 19th term because 'nothing less is at stake than our democracy.'
'While we have made progress, much more needs to be done to improve people's lives. Our democracy is at risk because of assaults on the truth, the assault on the U.S. Capitol and the state-by-state assault on voting rights,' she said in a video message.
'This election is crucial,' she continued. 'But as we say, we don't agonize, we organize, and that is why I'm running for re-election to Congress and respectfully seek your support,' Pelosi added.
The announcement comes as a filing deadline approached for candidacy in her San Francisco, California district.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday that she would be seeking another term in the House
The speaker's Team Pelosi account shared that the Democratic leader would be seeking another term
Pelosi didn't pledge in her video that she would serve a full term - nor did she say anything about running again as speaker.
In recent years Pelosi has held off announcing her leadership plans until shortly after the election results are clear in November and the Democratic caucus begins organizing for the new session of Congress.
Her decision not to additionally announce her plans to run as Speaker comes amid an internal Democratic debate on whether it is time for the party to give way to younger leadership or whether Pelosi's strong hands remains needed at the helm.
She has no lawmaker challenging her for the speaker position at this time.
But the top three Democratic House leaders are all their 80s, which has raised questions about whether it's time for a younger generation to move up in leadership.
'When people ask me, 'What are the three most important issues facing the Congress?' I always say the same thing: Our children, our children, our children,' Pelosi also said in the video.
Pelosi said the issue areas facing the nation's children included healthcare, education, housing, economic security, a clean environment and world peace.
'That is my why. Why I'm in Congress - for the children,' she noted. 'This is my story, this is my song.'
'As you hear me say, 'when you're in the arena, you have to be able to take a punch or throw a punch' - for the children,' she added.
Pelosi then highlighted some of her long Congressional record, from speaking about the HIV/AIDS crisis during her first appearance on the floor to the passage of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act in 2010.
The background of her video showed the city's famous 'Painted Ladies' victorian houes, popularized thanks to the television show, Full House.
Pelosi has held the speaker's gavel for two stints during her 35-year career in the House.
She made history as the first female speaker in U.S. history after Democrats won the House in 2006.
Pelosi again got promoted in January 2019 after the 2018 midterms.
She held the highest office of any woman in American political history until Vice President Kamala Harris was sworn-in last year.
Politics was a family affair, as the speaker's late father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., represented Maryland in the U.S. House and later became the mayor of Baltimore.
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