2011 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

← 2009 January 5, 2011 (2011-01-05) 2013 →
Needed to win: Majority of the votes cast 432 votes cast, 217 needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Candidate John Boehner Nancy Pelosi Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Ohio 8th California 12th Members' vote 241 173 Percentage 55.88% 39.96%   Candidate Others Members' vote 28 Percentage 6.86%
Speaker before election Nancy Pelosi Democratic ElectedSpeaker John Boehner Republican

On January 5, 2011, the first convening of the United States House of Representatives during the112th United States Congress, and two months after the2010 U.S. House elections, the incoming House members held an election forits speaker. This was 121st speaker election since the office was created in 1789. Since HouseRepublicans had gained the previously-Democrat-held majority in the2010 elections, Republican House LeaderJohn Boehner unseated Democratic House LeaderNancy Pelosi as speaker.

Democratic had held the House majority for the previous two congresses, with their leaderNancy Pelosi serving as speaker.^[1]

The November 2010 elections were the firstmidterm election of DemocratBarack Obama's presidency and the first election held underredistricted maps drawn after thereapportionment that followed the2010 census. The election saw the Democrats lose their House majority toRepublicans by losing 63 seats.^[2] This was the biggest midterm-election seat change since1938.^[3]

Thespeaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of theUnited States House of Representatives. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress (i.e.biennially, aftera general election) or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. Since 1839, the House has elected speakers byroll call vote.^[4] Traditionally, eachparty's caucus or conference 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 party has themajority and consequently will organize the House.^[5] 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".

Moreover, as the Constitution does not explicitly state that the speaker must be anincumbent 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.^[6] Nevertheless, every person elected speaker has been a member.^[5]

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 House – presently 218 votes, in a House of 435. 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. At the time, it happened most recently in January 2015 (114th Congress), whenJohn Boehner 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.^[5] Multiple roll calls have been necessary only 15 times since 1789; and, at the time, not since 1923 (68th Congress), when a closely divided House needed nine ballots to electFrederick H. Gillett speaker.^[7] Upon winning election the new speaker is immediately sworn in by theDean of the United States House of Representatives, the chamber's longest-serving member.^[8][9]

Nancy Pelosi of California andHeath Shuler of North Carolina ran in theHouse Democratic Caucus' vote to select its leader and nominee for speaker.^[10]Pelosi had led the House Democratic Caucus since 2003.^[11] Shuler was a member of theBlue Dog Coalition, a conservative faction of Democrats that had seen a large loss of House seats in the 2010 elections.^[10] The Democratic Caucus held their vote on November 30, 2010. After a motion to postpone the election until December 8 was defeated 68–129, the caucus voted for Pelosi.^[10]

The result of the vote was:^[10]

In a closed-door meeting held at theLongworth House Office Building, theHouse Republican Conference unanimously selected their incumbent leaderJohn Boehner as their speaker nominee.^[12][13]

Boehner received a majority of the votes cast and was elected speaker. A number of frustrated Blue Dog members of the Democratic Party refused to vote for Pelosi.^[14][15]

Boehner did not cast a vote in the election, while Pelosi did.^[17]

Representatives voting for someone other than their party's speaker nominee were:^[16]
■ Jason Altmire,Dan Boren,Jim Cooper,Joe Donnelly,Tim Holden,Larry Kissell,Jim Matheson,Mike McIntyre,Mike Michaud,Mike Ross,Heath Shuler, who voted for Shuler
■ John Barrow andGabby Giffords, who voted for Lewis
■ Dennis Cardoza, who voted for Costa
■ Jim Costa, who voted for Cardoza
■ Ron Kind, who voted for Cooper
■ Dan Lipinski, who voted for Kaptur
■ Kurt Schrader, who voted for Hoyer

Representatives who voted "present" were:^[16]
■ Sanford Bishop

Representatives that did not cast votes were:^[16]
■ John Boehner of Ohio
■ Peter DeFazio of Oregon

• "Congressional Record (Bound Edition)".govinfo.gov. Washington, D.C.:United States Government Publishing Office.

• Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections
• Nancy Pelosi
• 112th United States Congress

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2023