Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi (born March 26, 1940) is the current
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Before being elected Speaker in the
110th Congress, she was the
House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007, holding the post during the
108th, and
109th Congresses.
Since 1987, she has represented the
8th Congressional District of
California, which consists of four-fifths of the
City and County of San Francisco. The district was numbered as the 5th during Pelosi's first three terms in the House.
With her election as Speaker, she is the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. She is also the first
Italian-American and first Californian to serve as Speaker. She is the second Speaker from a state west of the
Rocky Mountains, with the first being
Washington's
Tom Foley, who was the last Democrat to hold the post before Pelosi. As Speaker of the House, Pelosi ranks second in the
line of presidential succession, following Vice President
Dick Cheney, which makes her the highest-ranking woman in politics in American history.