Exclusive: Speaker Nancy Pelosi Says She Has 'No Regrets'

Nov. 3, 2010 — -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today she has "no regrets" one day after a Republican landslide stripped her of the power that defined her historic tenure as the first female speaker of the House.

The California Democrat, who won a new two-year term in Tuesday's election, said she has yet to consider what she will do now.

"I'll have a conversation with my caucus, I'll have a conversation with my family, and pray over it, and decide how to go forward," she said in an exclusive ABC News interview with "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer. "But today isn't that day."

Watch Diane Sawyer's exclusive interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on "World News" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET

Pelosi became the first female House speaker in 2007. But after Republicans retook the house on Election Day Tuesday, she will be handing over her speaker's gavel, likely the current House minority leader, John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"Being the first woman speaker and breaking the marble ceiling is pretty important," she told ABC News. "Now it's time to move on."

Pelosi said she had "no regrets" after losing her position as the most powerful woman in American politics and said the country's unemployment problem was to blame for the Democrats' loss.

"We believe we did the right thing, and we worked very hard in our campaigns to convey that to the American people," she said. "Nine and a half percent unemployment is a very eclipsing event. If people don't have a job, they're not too interested in how you intend for them to have a job. They want to see results."

Asked to assess her tenure, Pelosi quickly answered, "Job well done."

She said it's now Boehner's job to produce results and described him as a friend.

"He knows that I wish him well personally," Pelosi said. "And for the American people, I wish him well in his work as well."