WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

"My colleagues made it very clear: 'Don't even think of leaving,' " she recalled at a news conference, surrounded by women lawmakers. "I have made a decision to submit my name to my colleagues to once again serve as the House Democratic leader."

Republicans reacted with derision.