One of the nation’s leading political scientists and analysts believes House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi needs to step down if the Democrats have any hope of making electoral gains in future elections.

“She’s 77, she’ll be 78 at the time of the elections next year, [and] she’s been in Congress forever,” said Larry Sabato, founder of the University of Virignia’s Center for Politics, Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

“It’s time to go,” he said.

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“You know people never seem to know when it’s time to go, and that’s true of tenured academics, too,” he continued. “Nonetheless, it’s time to go. It’s time to hand over the reigns to someone who’s younger, projects a different image for the party,” said Sabato.

But Sabato said that despite all the signs that Pelosi needs to move on for the good of her party, there are nearly as many indicating that she’s not going anywhere.

“It’s obvious already that they don’t have the votes to get rid of her, and she’s not going to go willingly,” Sabato noted.

It’s good news for the GOP, but bad news for the Democratic Party, some of whom are already sharpening knives for Pelosi but who, according to Sabato, are sure to be disappointed.

“We need leadership change,” Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) told CNN on Thursday. “It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to go, and the entire leadership team,” she said.

“This is certainly something that we have to discuss because it’s clear that, I think, across the board in the Democratic Party we need new leadership. It’s time for a new generation of leadership in the party,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) on Wednesday.

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“I think you’d have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Pelosi at the top,” Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) told Politico on Wednesday. “Nancy Pelosi is not the only reason that Ossoff lost. But she certainly is one of the reasons.”

If Pelosi really is a contributing factor to the Democrats’ recent losing streak, then they’d better get used to it, according to Sabato.

“I think [Pelosi is] going to stay because she refuses to leave — and she has raised so much money for so many of her caucus members that they’re not going to oust her.”