The Speaker: How Nancy Pelosi Changed the Face of Power
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi speaks to the press after the 150th anniversary of the cable car at the Powell and Market St. Turnaround in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)
Airdate: Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 10 am
Rep. Nancy Pelosi will retire following the 2026 midterm elections, bringing to end her almost 40-year career in Congress. In a new five-part podcast series, “The Speaker,” KQED’s Scott Shafer embarked on an ambitious reporting project to capture the story of the first woman Speaker of the House. Shafer traces how Pelosi rose from unlikely Congressional candidate to one of the most powerful women in American politics. Shafer and Pelosi biographer Susan Page joins us to talk about Pelosi’s political legacy and where the Democratic Party goes from here.
Guest:
- Scott Shafer, a senior editor and co-host of Political Breakdown, KQED
- Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief, USA Today; author, “Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power”
- Padmini Raghunath, series editor, “The Speaker”