2023 Speaker Of The United States House Of Representatives Election

The 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election will take place on January 3, 2023, on the opening day of the 118th United States Congress, two months after the 2022 U.S. House elections. This will be the 128th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives election since the office was created in 1789.

Process and conventions

The speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress, i.e. , after Election Day) or when a speaker dies, resigns, or is removed from the position intra-term. Since 1839, the House has elected speakers by roll call vote. Traditionally, each of the party caucuses and conferences in the United States Congress selects a candidate for the speakership from among its senior leaders prior to the roll call. Representatives are not restricted to voting for the candidate nominated by their party but generally do, as the outcome of the election effectively determines which one is the majority party and consequently will organize the House.

Representatives that choose to vote for someone other than their party's nominated candidate usually vote for another member within the party or vote ''present'', which entails abstention. Moreover, as the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly state that the speaker must be an incumbent member of the House, it is permissible for representatives to vote for someone who is not a member of the House at the time, and non-members have received a few votes in various speaker elections over the past several years. Nevertheless, every person elected speaker has been a member.

To be elected speaker, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast, as opposed to an absolute majority of the full membership of the Housepresently 218 votes, in a House of 434 members. As of November 2022, there is one vacancy in the incoming House, caused by the death of Donald McEachin (D-VA), that will likely not be filled by the time the election for speaker occurs. There have only been a few instances during the past century where a person received a majority of the votes cast and thus won the election, while failing to obtain a majority of the full membership. It happened most recently in January 2021 ( 117th Congress), when Nancy Pelosi was elected with 216 votes (as opposed to 218). Such a variation in the number of votes necessary to win a given election might arise due to vacancies, absentees, or members being present but not voting. If no candidate wins a majority of the "votes cast for a person by name", then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected. Multiple roll calls have been necessary only 14 times since 1789; and not since 1923 ( 68th Congress), when a closely divided House needed nine ballots to elect Frederick H. Gillett speaker. Upon winning election, the new speaker is immediately sworn in by the dean of the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber's longest-serving member.

Democratic Party

During the 2019 speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, Nancy Pelosi struck a deal with defectors in the Democratic Caucus that she would retire from the position of speaker after the 2022 U.S. House of Representatives elections to ensure a majority voted for her. On November 17, Pelosi confirmed during a speech on the floor of the House that she would not run for reelection. On November 30, Hakeem Jeffries was selected by acclamation.

Candidates

Nominee

* Hakeem Jeffries, incumbent chair of the Democratic Caucus, and representative from New York's 8th congressional district

Declined

* Jim Clyburn, outgoing Majority Whip, former Assistant Democratic Leader, and representative from South Carolina's 6th congressional district
* Steny Hoyer, outgoing House Majority Leader, and representative from Maryland's 5th congressional district
* Nancy Pelosi, outgoing speaker of the House, former Minority Leader, and representative from California's 12th congressional district
* Adam Schiff, incumbent chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and representative from California's 28th congressional district
* Pete Aguilar, incumbent vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, and representative from California's 31st congressional district
* Katherine Clark, incumbent Assistant Speaker, former vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, and representative of Massachusetts's 5th congressional district

Result

Republican Party

In the October 2015 U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives election, McCarthy ran for the Republican nomination and was initially judged as the favorite. As the House Freedom Caucus refused to vote for McCarthy in the full House, he did not have a majority of the House. This caused McCarthy to withdraw, and allowed for Paul Ryan to become speaker. In 2022, member of the House Freedom Caucus Bob Good said that McCarthy "has not done anything to earn my vote," explaining that " ere's many times where we ... asked him to fight on various opportunities and various issues, and I have not seen the demonstrated fight that we're looking for."

Candidates

Nominee

* Kevin McCarthy, incumbent House Minority Leader, former Majority Leader, and representative from California's 23rd congressional district

Lost nomination

* Andy Biggs, former chair of the Freedom Caucus and representative from Arizona's 5th congressional district

Results

The Republican caucus vote was held on November 15, 2022, and despite a challenge from Biggs, McCarthy won an overwhelming majority of votes within his caucus, electing him as the Republican nominee for speaker of the House. As McCarthy did not win more than 218 votes, a majority of the seats in the House, it caused media speculation of McCarthy's ability to be voted in as Speaker.

References

{{Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House election
*Speaker
Speaker of the House election
Speaker of the House election
Nancy Pelosi
2023