Politics runs in the family. Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful congressperson in the U.S., is currently leading the impeachment charge against President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, her daughter Alexandra Pelosi is raising awareness of political and social issues in another way: through documentary films.
Alexandra Pelosi made her mark with ‘Journeys with George’
Before she was a documentary filmmaker, Pelosi, 49, was working as a producer for NBC News. It was on the campaign trail during George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential run that she began to work on a more personal project.
She began filming the future commander-in-chief as she and other members of the media crisscrossed the country on Bush’s campaign jet. The resulting film, titled Journeys with George, was nominated for six Emmy Awards. It also kick-started a new career for the daughter of the longtime California congresswoman.
Many of Pelosi’s films address political and social issues
Since the success of Journeys with George, Pelosi has gone on to make 11 more documentaries focusing on political and social issues. Most have aired on HBO.
She followed up her debut with 2004’s Diary of a Political Tourist, which looked at the various Democratic candidates, including John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and John Edwards, who were competing to be their party’s presidential nominee.
Her 2016 movie, Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk? casts a critical eye on political fundraising, while 2017’s The Words That Built America examines the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Her most recent film, Outside the Bubble: On the Road with Alexandra Pelosi saw the avowed liberal traveling to red states to try to understand people on the other side of the political divide.
Several of Pelosi’s films also look at religion and politics. Fall to Grace profiles former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, who resigned in 2004 after having an extramarital affair and coming out as gay. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree and eventually began counseling women in prison. The Trials of Ted Haggard follows the disgraced evangelical pastor, who was exiled from his church after it was revealed he’d been involved with a male prostitute. Pelosi first interviewed Haggard for her film Friends of God, about evangelicals in the U.S.
Her family has a long history in politics
Alexandra Pelosi’s interest in politics isn’t surprising when you look at her family background. Her mother has been involved in Democratic politics for decades. She became a member of the Democratic National Committee in 1976 and in 1987 she was elected to Congress for the first time.
Nancy Pelosi’s father was Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., who was a Democratic congressman in the 1940s and the mayor of Baltimore from 1947 to 1959. Her brother Thomas D’Alesandro III followed in his father’s footsteps, serving as Baltimore’s mayor from 1967 to 1971. He died on October 20, 2019. Her husband Paul’s brother Ronald Pelosi served on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Alexandra Pelosi’s older sister Christine is a Democratic party strategist and member of the Democratic National Committee.
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