Electoral history of Nancy Pelosi

The electoral history of Nancy Pelosi spans more than three decades, from the mid-1980s to the present. A member of the Democratic Party in the United States, Nancy Pelosi was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a 1987 special election after the death of Congresswoman Sala Burton that February. In the Democratic primary, Pelosi defeated San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, considered the more progressive candidate, with 36 percent of the vote to his 32 percent. In the subsequent runoff, she defeated Republican Harriet Ross, her closest competitor, by more than a 2–1 margin.

Now in her 18th two-year term, Pelosi has enjoyed overwhelming voter support throughout her congressional career. Since 2013, she has represented CA's 12th congressional district, which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco. She initially represented the CA's 5th congressional district (1987–1993), and then, when district boundaries were redrawn after the 1990 Census, the CA's 8th congressional district (1993–2013). She served as the House Democratic Party leader from 2003 to 2023, and sought election to the office of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives every two years during that time, of which four campaigns were successful.