Rep. Nancy Pelosi announces 2022 re-election bid, says that 'in the arena, you have to be able to take a punch or throw a punch, for the children'

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has spent more than three decades serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, announced a bid for re-election on Tuesday.

The long-serving lawmaker, who will turn 82-years-old in March, has managed to remain the House's top Democrat since 2003, serving either as House minority leader or House speaker, depending on whether her party held the majority. After serving as House minority leader for two terms, she became the chamber's first female speaker in 2007.

But Pelosi, who is currently serving her fourth term as Speaker, made a pledge in 2018 that would preclude her from pursuing any additional terms as speaker, if she keeps her promise.

In 2018, the lawmaker issued a statement in which she said that she would abide by the constraints of a proposal to impose term limits for senior leadership roles in the Democratic caucus, capping service to three terms, plus one more term with the backing of two-thirds of the caucus.

"It would include the two terms of the Democratic Majority from 2007 to 2011," Pelosi noted in her 2018 statement. "I am comfortable with the proposal and it is my intention to abide by it whether it passes or not."

In a video announcing her re-election bid, Pelosi said, "In San Francisco the climate is not an issue, it is an ethic."

She said that children are the most important issue facing the nation's legislature.

"That is my why, why I am in Congress — for the children," Pelosi said. "As you hear me say ... in the arena, you have to be able to take a punch or throw a punch, for the children."