Today is the first day of the new Congress, and with it comes a new Speaker of the House – a legislative position that is rarely understood outside of Capitol Hill, despite being third in line for the presidency.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is urging his colleagues to vote for him again, this time as the 118th House Speaker, after the November midterm elections produced a razor-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives (four seats).
In 2015, after then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) resigned following loud and damaging infighting with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, the California politician competed for majority leader.
Seven years later, he is once again the party’s nominee, having failed to produce a “red wave” of Republicans into Congress but garnering barely enough votes to capture the House of Representatives. During an October leadership vote behind closed doors, he won the backing of the majority of his colleagues and withstood a challenge from Representative Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
On December 23, 2022 in Washington, D.C., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-CA) walks to the House Chambers of the U.S. Capitol Building. (Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) )
McCarthy faces staunch resistance from a handful of conservative legislators known as the Never Kevin Caucus, whose 222-213 majority may very likely derail his candidacy.
Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, among others, are in charge of the NKs.
Here is all you need to know about the House speaker election process:
While selecting a speaker is the first vote the House will take prior to Tuesday’s swearing-in of new and returning members of Congress, it will not be the last. As stipulated by the Constitution, the session opens on January 3 at 12 p.m. (Eastern), and House members from both parties will vote for speaker; the winning threshold is 218.
Plan B is a parliamentarian’s worst fear if the House is unable to elect someone with a majority vote. In summary, 218 votes must be obtained before the floor can be opened for action.
In 1923, Republican Frederick Gillett (Massachusetts) was elected speaker after nine unsuccessful ballots. In the mid-1850s, lawmakers took nearly two months and 133 ballots before selecting Nathaniel Banks, also of Massachusetts, as the longest-ever speaker election.
2BWB6KM Frederick H. Gillett of Massachusetts was re-elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on December 5, 1923, after Republican insurgents voted for him for the first time following a stalemate on December 14.
The last speaker election to need more than one ballot was in 1923, when Frederick Gillett was selected nine times (R-Mass.)
Thursday, December 22, 2022, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California delivers a press conference in the Capitol in Washington. Pelosi discussed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech to Congress and compared it to a similar speech by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which her father, a Maryland congressman, attended. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may win a majority vote, meaning that both the House and the Senate would be under Democratic control – an extremely improbable situation. If the House changes the election rules to allow a simple majority to pick the speaker, this could boomerang for the Republicans.
On December 23, 2022 in Washington, D.C., Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) walks to the House Chambers of the United States Capitol Building. (Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) )
WHO CAN BE NOMINATED?
Immediately following the November 8 general election, both parties held an informal vote to determine the January leadership of their respective parties. In November, McCarthy gained a majority of the GOP vote behind closed doors, but not enough to seal the deal. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California resigned after losing the majority, prompting Democrats to rally behind Jeffries’ bid to become party leader.
But once Congress opens a new session, members are not bound to vote for the party’s preferred candidate – or even a member of the House.
President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and even Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a Republican, all gotten votes for speaker of the House.
LET THE VOTING BEGIN
Once the House is in session, the nominee for speaker from each party is announced, and present and voting House members vote by roll call.
As of Tuesday morning, many politicians, pundits, and McCarthy himself were uncertain that he would get a majority on the first attempt to become speaker. If he fails to get a majority, it is possible that the clerk will repeat the roll call vote multiple times until he does. McCarthy is anticipated to continue making concessions with the holdouts until he can grab the gavel.
Since the outcome of the House leadership election is not a foregone conclusion, a speaker might be elected today after numerous attempts, postponed for a day or weeks, or Congress could alter the rules to achieve a simple majority.
Cheryl Lynn Johnson, the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives and a Pelosi appointee, will preside over the lower house until a speaker is elected.
Typically, the outgoing speaker will join the incoming speaker at the speaker’s chair, where they will pass the gavel to signify the peaceful transfer of power from one party leader to the next. This time, the gavel will be held by California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who has held the position for the past four years.
»How will the House elect its next speaker, and will Representative Kevin McCarthy be elected?«