 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Needed to win: Majority of the votes cast 434 votes cast; 218 needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An election forspeaker of the United States House of Representatives took place on January 3, 2025, on the opening day of the119th United States Congress, two months after the2024 elections for theUnited States House of Representatives.
Theincumbent speaker,RepublicanMike Johnson ofLouisiana, was re-elected on the first ballot, defeatingHakeem Jeffries with a slim 218–215 majority. Johnson, who had replacedKevin McCarthy in October 2023 after McCarthywas removed from the position, was initially expected to lose on the first ballot, as several Republican congressmen had told major news outlets they had no intention to vote for him.[1] On the opening day of the 119th Congress, three Republicans—Thomas Massie,Ralph Norman, andKeith Self—voted against Johnson, while all Democrats voted for Jeffries, thus, it had initially appeared that Johnson had fallen short of the 218 vote majority. However, shortly before the vote was finalized byHouse clerkKevin McCumber, Norman and Self switched their votes to Johnson, which gave him the majority to secure the speakership.[2]
The speaker is the presiding officer of theU.S. House of Representatives. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress (i.e.biennially, afterElection Day) or when a speaker dies, resigns, or is removed from the position intra-term. Since 1839, the House has elected speakers byroll call vote.[3] Following a congressional election and the adjournment of the prior congress, there being no speaker, theHouse clerk summons, convenes, and calls the House to order. After prayer offered by theHouse chaplain, the clerk leads the representatives in thePledge of Allegiance before ordering a roll call conducted by the reading clerk. The clerk and its officers then order and oversee the election of a speaker. During these processes, the clerk must "preserve order and decorum and decide all questions of order", which is subject to appeal to the body.[4]
Traditionally, each of theparty caucuses and conferences 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 themajority party and consequently will organize the House.[5] Without a speaker, members-elect of the House cannot be sworn in.[a] The House is unable to conduct any business other than electing the speaker.[6][7] Because the rules of the House are adopted for each new Congress, the House will not have rules until the election is complete allowing the members to be sworn in and the House to adopt rules.[8]
Representatives that choose to vote for someone other than their party's nominated candidate usually vote for another member within the party or votepresent, which entailsabstention. Moreover, as theConstitution does not explicitly state that the speaker must be anincumbent member of the House, it is permissible for representatives to nominate and vote for someone who is not a member of the House at the time, and non-members have been nominated and received a few votes in various speaker elections over the past several years.[9] Nevertheless, every person elected speaker has been a member.[5] Upon winning election, the new speaker is immediately sworn in by theHouse dean, the chamber's longest-serving member.[10][11] The new speaker then administers the oathen masse to the rest of the members of the House.[12]
To be elected speaker, a candidate must receive a majority of votes cast, as opposed to a majority of the entire membership of the House.[13] 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.[14] This occurred most recently in 2023 whenKevin McCarthy was elected with 216 votes (as opposed to 218).[15] 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.[16]
Republicans retained their slim majority in the House of Representatives, despite losing a seat, during the2024 United States House of Representatives elections.[17] With a two seat larger majority, in theJanuary 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, a faction of the Republican majority, mostly represented by theFreedom Caucus, refused to support Republican speaker nomineeKevin McCarthy without concessions. McCarthy eventually was elected speaker, following four days of voting and 15 ballots, after agreeing to name hardline Republicans to the powerfulUnited States House Committee on Rules and allow any member to force a vote to remove the Speaker through amotion to vacate the chair.[18] Despite these concessions, McCarthy wasremoved as Speaker by dissident Republicans and all Democrats on October 3, 2023, after he worked to pass a cleancontinuing resolution to avert a government shutdown.[19] Mike Johnson was elected speaker, after four ballots, on October 25, 2023. Some Republicans blocked the nominations ofSteve Scalise andTom Emmer as speaker, while more moderate Republicans blocked the nomination ofJim Jordan.[20] In May 2024, after Johnson passed military aid forUkraine, some Republicans attempted toremove Johnson from the speakership. However, this attempt was blocked by a majority of both Democrats and Republicans.[21]
Republicans voted to nominate their speaker of the House candidate on Wednesday, November 13.[22] On November 12,Politico reported that members of theHouse Freedom Caucus planned to force an internalsecret ballot vote on the speakership of Mike Johnson. Their opposition to Johnson was mostly meant as a way to protest against some proposed rule changes (due to be voted on by the Conference) which would revoke Conference assignments from Republicans who break party lines on procedural votes or introduce amotion to vacate.[23]
Before the vote, members of the Freedom Caucus and theMain Street Caucus, along with speaker Mike Johnson, reached an agreement: the proposed rule changes on Conference assignments would be withdrawn; in exchange, the holdouts pledged to support a reform of the motion to vacate, which would raise the threshold to introduce it from one member to nine members. After the deal was struck, Johnson was nominated byvoice vote without opposition.[24]
Following Speaker Johnson's December 17 announcement of acontinuing resolution to avert a government shutdown, which included funding opposed by many conservative Republicans, Republican representativeThomas Massie said he would vote against Johnson in the upcoming speakership election.Politico andPunchbowl News reported that privately several other Republicans were "uncommitted" to supporting Johnson.[25][26] Later, Republican senatorsRand Paul andMike Lee, as well as Republican representativeMarjorie Taylor Greene, publicly announced that they are open to supportingElon Musk to be the next Speaker of the House.[27][28] On December 20, Freedom Caucus chairAndy Harris said he was "undecided."[29] On December 30, 2024, President-electDonald Trump endorsed Johnson through a post onTruth Social.[30][31] Despite the endorsement, multiple Republican representatives have publicly said they are uncommitted to voting for Johnson; includingVictoria Spartz,[b]Andy Biggs,Tim Burchett, andChip Roy.[33][34][35] Roy also said that "Johnson does not yet have the support to be speaker."[36][37]
IncumbentHouse minority leader Hakeem Jeffries was re-elected as Leader of theHouse Democratic Caucus by acclamation without opposition on November 19, 2024.[38]
Democratic Caucus ChairPete Aguilar nominated Jeffries while House Republican Conference ChairLisa McClain nominated Johnson.[40]
All Democrats voted for Jeffries. Initially, several Republican Representatives had not voted for Johnson:Thomas Massie voted forTom Emmer,Ralph Norman voted forJim Jordan, andKeith Self voted forByron Donalds, whileAndy Biggs,Michael Cloud,Andrew Clyde,Paul Gosar,Andy Harris, andChip Roy (all of whom were undecided going into the vote) did not respond to the initialroll call vote. The clerk then called a second time the names of those who had not replied to the first call, and all six voted for Johnson.[41] Johnson's vote count therefore stood at 216, two short of the required majority. However, after meeting with Johnson off the floor and receiving a phone call from Trump, Norman and Self shifted to supporting Johnson and changed their vote accordingly before the final result was declared.[42][43]
Before the vote had officially concluded,Stacey Plaskett, the delegate representing theU.S. Virgin Islands, posed aparliamentary inquiry as to why she and other delegates representingU.S. territories and theDistrict of Columbia were not called upon to participate in the speakership election.[44] She then said the House and the nation has a territories and colonies problem.[45]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mike Johnson* (LA 4) | 218 | 50.23 | |
| Democratic | Hakeem Jeffries (NY 8) | 215 | 49.54 | |
| Republican | Tom Emmer (MN 6) | 1[d] | 0.23 | |
| Total votes | 434[e] | 100 | ||
| Votes necessary | 218 | >50 | ||
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Media related toSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives election, January 2025 at Wikimedia Commons
| |||||||
| Speakership | .jpg) | ||||||
| Elections |
| ||||||