Rep. Nancy Pelosi is currently 84. In 2026, she’ll be 86. And she filed papers to be able to run again in 2026. At the end of that term, she’ll be 88.

Now this isn’t about age. Unlike Biden, Pelosi seems reasonably with it. No one is accusing her of not knowing where she is or not recognizing people. (Though if that were going on, we can be confident that the media would cover it up until it was politically convenient to disclose it.)

Pelosi has been in Congress since 1987. That’s not the longest anyone in Congress has been in office, but it’s a long time. During this time her family wealth has grown quite a bit.

Public service was never meant to be a lifetime gig, but Pelosi has made it clear that she intends to stay in office until she’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein. That’s not atypical for California Dems who grab a seat and then never leave it.

A bunch of her party members wish that she would. Quietly.

The mounting frustration with Pelosi exists in the private conversations among House Democrats in various corners of the caucus.

“She needs to take a seat,” said one senior Democratic lawmaker.

Pelosi still instills fear in the members she led for two decades. Both lawmakers insisted on anonymity.

Some Democrats are clearly frustrated Pelosi isn’t fading into the sunset like she promised when she lost the gavel two years ago.

There’s not gonna be a sunset.

In an interview with the New York Times, Pelosi dismissed a question about whether this will be her last term, saying, “I’m not here to talk about that.”

“I’m here to fight the fight so that we win in the next election,” Pelosi continued. “I must have thought I’ve had the last term over and over again, but as fate would have it, the mission called.”

The mission keeps calling. And the mission looks a whole lot like ego.