Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she will run to keep her job as the Democratic leader in the House after a pair of elections that kept the party in the minority there even as Democrats gained seats in the Senate and a second term for President Barack Obama. 
 
 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2102, with newly elected Democratic House members. At left is Rep.-elect... (Associated Press) 
 
 Pelosi made the announcement in a private meeting with members of her caucus, saying she'd toss her hat back in the ring if Rep. Steve Israel, N.Y., agreed to stay on as head of the party's campaign committee. 
 
 Republicans reacted with derision. 
 
 "There is no better person to preside over the most liberal House Democratic caucus in history than the woman who is solely responsible for relegating it to a prolonged minority status," said Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee. "This decision signals that House Democrats have absolutely no interest in regaining the trust and confidence of the American people who took the speaker's gavel away from Nancy Pelosi in the first place," he said. 
 
 Pelosi, 72, has represented a San Francisco area district in the House includes becoming the first woman in history to serve as speaker. The tea party-fueled political wave of 2010 forced the gavel from her hand to Rep. John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. 
 
 Holding a news conference Wednesday morning with women members of her caucus, Pelosi said "we're very, very proud" of how large a role women played in the Nov. 6 election. 
 
 "We don't have the gavel" of majority status in the House, she said, "but we have unity. I think our caucus this morning demonstrated that very clearly." 
 
 "We must have the further empowerment of women," said Pelosi, who noted that when she came to Congress there were 23 women in the House compared to over 60 of the seats in the House. "Not enough. We want more," she said. 
 
 Pelosi was a major force behind the passage of Obama's health care overhaul and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Even after the 2010 elections, when her party lost 63 seats, Pelosi was reelected Democratic leader by her caucus. 
 
 Pelosi's colleagues had said for days that the top leadership post was hers if she wanted it in the next Congress that begins in January. She refused to reveal her plans for a week after the Nov. 6 elections failed to give Democrats gain they wanted. 
 
 It was a disappointing, but not unexpected result of a bitter year of elections that focused on the tight contests for president and control of the Senate. Throughout, Pelosi raised millions of dollars for Democratic House candidates and insisted that the 25 seat gain was within reach. But in the end, Democrats will gain at most eight seats and Republicans will keep their majority. 
 
 Waiting in the wings of Democratic ranks was Pelosi's deputy, Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the party whip, whom she has known since they were congressional interns, and South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn, assistant to the Democratic leader. 
 
 Pelosi is the daughter and sister of former Baltimore mayors. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., served as mayor of Baltimore for 12 years after representing the city for five terms in Congress. Her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also served as mayor. ||||| Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will run for House Democratic Leader. "Driven by the urgency of creating jobs & protecting #hcr, #wsr, Social Security & Medicare, I am running for Dem Leader," she tweeted on Friday. 
 
 On Thursday, Blue Dog Democrat Heath Shuler said he would challenge Pelosi for the post if she ran. Several other Democrats have said they would prefer a leader other than Pelosi, but in an interview with Ryan Grim, Pelosi told The Huffington Post on Thursday that she was canvassing for votes. 
 
 In a Wednesday interview with ABC, Pelosi told Diane Sawyer that she has "no regrets" about her time as Speaker of the House, and evaluated her performance as a "job well done." 
 
 Ohio Republican John Boehner, the Speaker-in-waiting, said on Thursday that "there seems to be some denial on the part of the president and other Democratic leaders of the message that was sent by the American people," a statement which presumably referred in part to Pelosi. 
 
 More from the AP: 
 
 WASHINGTON — Despite widespread complaints about massive losses that will put Democrats in the minority, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will try to stay on as leader of her party in the House. 
 
 The decision exposed a rift between Pelosi's liberal allies and the dwindling number of moderate Democrats, who feel besieged and eager for substantive and symbolic changes in direction after Tuesday's Republican rout. It also is likely to trigger leadership battles farther down the ladder. 
 
 Pelosi, the nation's first female speaker, said many colleagues urged her to seek the post of minority leader in the new Congress that convenes in January. That will be the Democrats' top post, because Republicans, who grabbed more than 60 Democratic-held seats Tuesday, will elect the next speaker. It will be John Boehner of Ohio, who will swap titles with Pelosi if she succeeds in her bid. 
 
 "We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back," Pelosi, 70, said in a letter to her colleagues. 
 
 Allies said Pelosi would not make the bid unless she felt she had the votes. Some cautioned, however, that House members vote by secret ballot when electing the leaders of their respective parties at the start of each new Congress. Pelosi's caucus is more heavily liberal now that many moderate Democrats lost on Tuesday, but even some Pelosi admirers are distressed by the magnitude of the losses. 
 
 Several moderates, and even some longtime Pelosi supporters, had openly criticized her in their re-election campaigns, and had urged her to step aside. Pelosi's Friday announcement caught some off guard. 
 
 Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., had told a Louisville TV station on Thursday, "as good a leader as she has been, I don't think she's the right leader to take us forward." 
 
 He reversed field Friday after she announced her intentions, and after a senior Pelosi ally, Rep. George Miller of California, called him. 
 
 Pelosi "has proven time and time again that she is able to build consensus in a caucus comprised of members from all across the ideological spectrum," Yarmuth said. 
 
 Other House Democrats held their ground. 
 
 Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., said he was "disappointed that Speaker Pelosi is going to seek the position of Minority Leader." North Carolina Rep. Larry Kissell's office said he hopes Pelosi "will change her mind and step aside." 
 
 Reps. Dan Boren of Oklahoma and Mike Ross of Arkansas also said they opposed Pelosi. 
 
 They were among the many House Democrats whom Republicans criticized for their loyalty to the California liberal, who was a forceful though generally well-liked speaker. During her four years as Speaker, Pelosi used all her political muscle to enact contentious measures such as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. 
 
 Republicans were giddy in learning the news. 
 
 Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, in a meeting with reporters, put his hands over his head and applauded. "My breath is taken away by that announcement," he said, grinning. 
 
 In a statement, White House spokesman Bill Burton said the president appreciates the work of Pelosi and the Democratic leadership team "who have been great partners in moving the country forward" and he looks forward to working with them. 
 
 Pelosi's announcement set off a likely battle for the No. 2 Democratic leadership job, now held by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. The party's third-ranking leader, House Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, said he will try to keep the job, which will become the second in command when Democrats become the minority. 
 
 If Clyburn – the House's highest-ranking African-American – prevails, Hoyer would be forced out of the leadership ranks for the first time in many years. 
 
 Hoyer said he would make a decision after consulting with lawmakers, adding, "I have received an outpouring of support from Democratic colleagues who have told me that I should remain in our party's leadership." 
 
 Hoyer is more centrist than Pelosi, and the two have long had a cordial but somewhat wary relationship. 
 
 Pelosi's bid presumably will keep her atop the Democratic caucus, which will number about 190 members next year. But it would mark a big drop from being speaker, which carries tremendous power to influence legislation and is second only to the vice president in the line of presidential succession. 
 
 Among those defending her was Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. "We're in a political storm," he said, "but we don't need to adopt an 'any leader in a storm' mentality." 
 
 Several Democratic lawmakers in conservative districts had vowed to oppose Pelosi as speaker, but some of them lost their re-election bids all the same. 
 
 One survivor, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, had said he might challenge Pelosi because the party needs a more moderate leader. Shuler noted that he lost his job as Washington Redskins quarterback in 1997 after the team performed poorly. 
 
 As the magnitude of Tuesday's election losses sunk in, even some longtime supporters of Pelosi said she needed to step aside as the party leader. 
 
 "I voted for everything she asked me to vote for," said Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J. "You know, sometimes in this business it's difficult to know when to move on." 
 
 "With all the losses that we had with governors and all the redistricting that's going to be done, we don't need the target," Sires said, referring to the once-a-decade House redistricting process about to begin nationwide. 
 
 If Pelosi remains as the Democrats' House leader, it's possible the party will absorb historic election losses without making significant leadership changes. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will keep his post. 
 
 Pelosi's decision also may enable Republicans to keep demonizing her as an emblem of Democratic liberalism, as they did in so many campaigns this fall. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Andrew Taylor, David Espo, Ben Evans, Henry C. Jackson, Julie Pace and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.
– Nancy Pelosi will stay on as House minority leader in the new session of Congress, she announced this morning, after first revealing her decision to her caucus at a private meeting, the AP reports. Pelosi broke the news at a press conference surrounded by her fellow female House reps, which heralded the theme of her remarks. Pelosi said she was "very, very proud" of the number of women Democrats sent to Washington. "Understand that you are looking into the future," she said. "The future of empowerment of women in America." Republicans, predictably, attacked the move. "There is no better person to preside over the most liberal House Democratic caucus in history than the woman who is solely responsible for relegating it to a prolonged minority status," a National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman said. In the Senate meanwhile, Republicans quietly re-elected Mitch McConnell as their minority leader, Reuters reports.