How Did Nancy Pelosi Become US Speaker of the House for more than 20 Years?

Question

There was much criticism of her during her tenure. Many challenged her. However when it came down to the line the opposition always melted away. Many said it was too much work. Yet when she resigned Hakim Jeffries took the job with no problem.

How come? Why wasn't it took much work for Hakim Jeffries? Or was there another reason. Was Nancy like J Edgar Hoover and had secret files on everyone? What is your opinion?

Answer 1

Actually, she kept getting nominated and voted in. In order to be the next speaker of the house a person has to be nominated, and then needs to have the majority of the votes from house members who are present and voting. In other words the winner of the race needs to have a majority of those voting for a specific candidate. They don't need to be elected lawmakers of the chamber either. Article I, Section II of the Constitution says "only those of the house shall chose their Speaker and other officers." 
What we know is that the chamber has only chosen its own members as speaker. Pelosi rose through the ranks from minority whip to minority leader in 2002 before becoming the first woman speaker of the House in 2007. She held the position until Republicans took control of the house, and so on.

Answer 2

She clearly has a good Hi-Fi system.

Comments

These days its Wi-Fi. People use earbuds today. lol

Answer 3

Nancy works hard, is not generally an asshole, has a lot of respect by her coworkers.  She knows how the system works and doesn't forget anyone.  Most people who talked about challenging her, didn't really want the job as speaker, but wanted something.  Nancy would find out what they wanted and would work hard to see that they got it, and if they would not come around she remembered that too.  They could expect nothing from her in the future.

Answer 4

Nancy Pelosi came from a prominent political family.

Thomas D Alessandro was her father.

She was fully aware of how to use political power effectively!

He was known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the D'Alesandro political family, which includes Nancy Pelosi, the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and Thomas D'Alesandro III, the 44th mayor of Baltimore. Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.

Children of powerful influencial prominence are not a stranger to how to use power and influence for their own personal benefit. Nancy Pelosi very effectively used these skills to unite her party in the House of Representatives and few people “fell out of line” or voted independently.

Answer 5

Over the years, she developed into a master strategist for the Democratic party in the House.  She knew all the representatives and knew how to wheel and deal with them to bring them around "for the greater good" of the party.  She was great at working behind the scenes and was a great negotiator.

So far as I know, she did not place "personal gain" above the work she was doing.  Her husband Paul was the manager of a venture capital firm and made some very shrewd investments.  Her family was already rich, as Lady has pointed out.  At one point, there was concern about whether she (and many other members of Congress) was making insider deals with the knowledge she had about legislation, the status of the Covid crisis, etc.  No charges were ever leveled agains her, however.  In September of 2022, some 97 members of Congress bought or sold stock relating to their congressional work.  Here's the list, if you're interested: (NOTE: Pelosi is not on the list.)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/13/us/politics/congress-members-stock-trading-list.html

When she decided to hang it up, she recommended Jeffries as her replacement, and the Democrats went along with her on it.