The decision by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to leave Congress after almost four decades marks the end of an era for both the powerhouse Democrat and her party at large.

The former Speaker not only wrote herself into the history books as the first woman to hold the gavel, but also muscled into law some of the most significant policy changes of modern times, including sweeping health care, climate and Wall Street reforms.

Along the way, Pelosi earned a reputation as a potent vote-counter — one who could convince even the most reluctant Democrats to support her agenda — and a mammoth fundraiser, who pulled in roughly $1.3 billion for the Democrats over her congressional career.

“She made us proud to be Democrats,” former President Obama wrote Thursday, “and will go down in history as one of the best speakers the House of Representatives has ever had.”

Here are some of the greatest hits of Pelosi’s storied time on Capitol Hill.

The Iraq War

Pelosi was the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee in 2002, when President George W. Bush and his administration came to Congress for approval of military operations in Iraq. Saddam Hussein, Bush had warned, possessed potent weapons stockpiles that posed a direct threat to the United States and other Western democracies.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the administration told Congress, it was imperative to hit Baghdad before Baghdad hit the U.S.

Pelosi challenged the assertion, saying the administration had presented no evidence to Congress to back the claim that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) — or to justify military operations in Iraq.

Although the war resolution passed easily in October of 2022, Pelosi was among the 133 House lawmakers — almost all of them Democrats — who opposed it.

History would ultimately vindicate the opponents. Iraq, it turned out, did not have WMDs. And the Iraq War not only killed thousands of American troops — and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians — it also destabilized the region in ways that empowered a new crop of anti-Western terrorists.

Pelosi’s vote against the war helped to solidify her standing in the liberal-leaning Democratic caucus, where she would serve as the top leader for 20 years, beginning just months after the conflict began.

“Knowing what we knew then, this intelligence did not support the threat,” Pelosi said years later. “It was a gross misrepresentation to the American people of the capabilities and intentions of the Iraqi government.”

A woman in power

Pelosi broke the marble ceiling in 2003, when........

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