Pelosi Regains Gavel as Speaker of Most Diverse U.S. House Ever

Nancy Pelosi again became the most powerful woman in American politics on Thursday, gathering dozens of children around her as she took the oath of office as the next speaker of a diverse and deeply divided U.S. House of Representatives. Blowing a kiss to senior Republican Representative Don Young after he read out the oath to her, the California Democrat assumed the leadership of the 435-seat chamber at a moment of unique instability and uncertainty. The diversity of her party's caucus was on full display during the hour-long vote to elect her as speaker. “Standing on the shoulders of the women who marched 100 years ago to give me the right to vote, I cast my vote for Nancy Pelosi," Representative Brenda Lawrence declared on the floor.