Story highlights Nancy Pelosi has led House Democrats since 2003

Pelosi faced a surprisingly tough re-election battle to head House Democrats in November

(CNN) House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday she would have retired if Hillary Clinton had won the White House in last year's election.

"If Hillary had won, I was ready to go home," Pelosi said after her interview at The Monitor Breakfast, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, in Washington. "It was really shocking that someone like Donald Trump would be President of the United States. We yearn for the day of a Mitt Romney or a George Bush or someone. But anyway, that motivated me to stay now."

Pelosi, who has led the House Democrats since 2003, said she was staying to protect the Affordable Care Act -- a signature item dubbed "Obamacare" but one she was heavily decisive in crafting eight years ago as then-House speaker.

Pelosi faced a surprisingly tough re-election battle to head House Democrats in November, just weeks after Trump won the White House. As the party did some soul-searching, a group led by Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, said it wanted a new direction.

Pelosi would not say Friday whether she would seek to run the House Democrats again in 2018, saying she takes everything now "day to day."