- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she will step down from her congressional leadership role, ending a two-decade streak as a top House Democrat.
- The announcement came less than a day after news outlets projected that Democrats would narrowly lose their House majority to Republicans following the midterm elections.
- Pelosi, 82, has kept her future plans under wraps in the aftermath of the midterms, when Democrats exceeded expectations up and down the ballot. Republicans, who anticipated that a “red wave” would deliver them sweeping majorities in Congress, will instead take a thin lead in the House, per NBC News estimates.