Shortly before announcing on Twitter, Pelosi told volunteers she would run again at a breakfast for volunteers near downtown San Francisco. The event was held at the lodge of a local union for plumbers and pipefitters.

Pelosi’s decision demonstrates her continued influence even after stepping aside from her Democratic leadership post. Many political observers believed she would vacate her seat when Democrats lost the House in 2022.

But Pelosi, 83, stayed on after the party posted a better-than-expected showing in November. She navigated the shift out of leadership while coping with the aftermath of a brutal attack on her husband, Paul, by an assailant who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home last October. The suspect, David DePape, was looking for the congresswoman, who was in Washington at the time. He faces a slew of state and federal charges, including an attempt to kidnap a federal official.

One of the most prominent antagonists of former President Donald Trump, Pelosi will retain her public platform as Trump is favored to again secure the Republican presidential nomination. Her decision to stay on contrasts sharply with the impending exit of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), another long-serving California icon who is declining to seek another term amid persistent concerns about her mental acuity.

The question of Pelosi’s retirement timeline has for years animated political players in San Francisco, a resolutely progressive and politics-obsessed city that has produced a stream of national Democratic leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The eventual departure of one of the nation’s most recognizable Democrats, who was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election, would mark the end of an era. It would also set off a cascade of campaign moves as Democrats seize on the once-in-a-generation opportunity of an open House seat. Her seat carries symbolic significance as an anchor of progressive politics, and the jockeying will be fierce in a city defined by internecine Democratic clashes.

State Sen. Scott Wiener has effectively launched a campaign-in-waiting, and Pelosi’s daughter Christine is seen as a contender who could tap into her mother’s network of supporters and donors. Christine has not said whether she’d follow in her mother’s path. A Wiener run could trigger multiple races to represent San Francisco in the state Legislature.