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The House elects a new speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes after a general election for its two-year term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. On Feb. 1, 1856, Democrats decided to back pro-slavery Rep. William Aiken Jr. of South Carolina. Democratic leaders also said they would again support a proposal to elect a speaker via a plurality if nobody could win a majority in the next three ballots. Banks received the most votes in each of the first three ballots, but he fell short of a majority each time. The House speaker can be one of the chief figures in the U.S. government if the holder of the office wields all available authority.
Mike Johnson and the troubled history of recent Republican speakers
Speaker Johnson has suggested that another short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown may be necessary to ensure the House is not pressured into passing an omnibus spending bill at the end of the year. Notably, Greene was absent from the Capitol on Monday night when lawmakers returned to Washington from a week-long recess. WASHINGTON – Democrats are vowing to rescue House Speaker Mike Johnson from an ouster threat, throwing the embattled Republican speaker a lifeline as he faces revolt from his party's right flank. “The Hastert Rule, if you remember, says that if a majority of the majority doesn’t support it, you don’t bring it to the floor,” Massie also said, referring to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). House Democrats rallied to Johnson both in committee and on the floor to boost the foreign aid package by wide margins — but over objections from dozens of Republicans, including many in the conservative Freedom Caucus.
Presiding officer
By 1910, Speaker Joe Cannon had centralized power to such an extent that many of his own party members rebelled. In the often fiery atmosphere of politics immediately after the Civil War, Blaine favored a moderate course. That didn't stop him from working to win Black men the vote, though, and he was considered a well-spoken leader, according to Britannica. But the "Plumed Knight," as he was also known, had his sights on higher office.
January 1949
Indeed, some members of his party encouraged him to pursue the presidency and Nixon's impeachment more aggressively. Albert himself seemed prepared for the job, though the McAlester News-Capital reported that he also considered resigning to avoid the government changing party hands without an election. Nonetheless, Gerald Ford's confirmation as vice president sidestepped the issue. Historically, there have been several controversial elections to the speakership, such as the contest of 1839.
December 1847
Hastert was in court Oct. 15 and is expected to plead guilty later this month to charges related to that controversy. In many ways Boehner was a curious choice to lead the Tea Party troops in their crusade against the Obama presidency in 2011. While indubitably a conservative, he had not been a "movement conservative" or a particularly ideological politician. In the early months of his speakership, he negotiated with the White House over budget compromises that might be acceptable to both parties. But when he brought a version of his "grand bargain" to his troops, they rebelled. When time came to raise the debt ceiling, to accommodate new borrowing to pay for longstanding U.S. obligations, the House balked.
Nancy Pelosi: 4 terms, 2007-2011; 2019-2023
An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1961, on the opening day of the 87th Congress, two months after the 1960 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on January 7, 1959, on the opening day of the 86th Congress, two months after the 1958 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1957, on the opening day of the 85th Congress, two months after the 1956 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats.
List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives
Members often liven up the proceedings by shouting or standing when casting their vote. A bipartisan committee, usually consisting of members from the home state of the chosen candidate, will then escort the speaker-elect to the chair on the dais where the oath of office is administered. The oath is identical to the one new members will take once a speaker is chosen. Lawmakers call out the name of their choice for speaker from the floor, a rare and time-consuming roll call that heightens the drama. Jordan has made a name for himself as a staunch ally of Donald Trump and was endorsed by the former president in his bid for the speakership.
Speaking outside the Capitol, Greene ranted against Republican Party leaders at the highest levels and pushed back against their public entreaties, including from Donald Trump, to avoid another messy political fight so close to the November election. With her was Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the few lawmakers to join her effort. His predecessor, Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts, also had the top job for less than five years. But when he left after the 1924 session, his party was still firmly in control and had just elected President Calvin Coolidge to a full term. The well-respected No. 2 Republican, Eric Cantor of Virginia, had lost his primary in 2014. The No. 3, McCarthy, soon ran aground over remarks in a TV interview and lacked the votes to be speaker.
December 1915
On Wednesday, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she will seek a vote next week over Johnson's ouster. Democrats are expected to vote to kill the motion, effectively ensuring that Johnson remains in the leadership post. But the move nevertheless escalates pressure on the speaker and sets up a showdown on the House floor. At their own private meeting this week, some Democrats objected to helping Johnson, particularly after he helped lead Trump’s legal challenges to the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1939, on the opening day of the 76th Congress, two months after the 1938 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. William B. Bankhead received a majority of the votes cast and was re-elected speaker. An election for speaker took place on January 5, 1937, on the opening day of the 75th Congress, two months after the 1936 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on April 15, 1929, at the start[c] of the 71st Congress following 1928 elections in which Republicans won a majority of the seats. Nicholas Longworth received a majority of the votes cast and was re-elected speaker.
An election for speaker took place on December 5, 1853, at the start of the 33rd Congress following the 1852–53 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on December 1, 1851, at the start of the 32nd Congress following the 1850–51 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on December 4, 1843, at the start of the 28th United States Congress following the 1842–43 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. If no candidate receives a majority vote, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected. Multiple rounds of voting have been necessary 16 times since 1789, almost all before the American Civil War.
House Speaker Johnson pushes ahead on aid for Ukraine, Israel - The Associated Press
House Speaker Johnson pushes ahead on aid for Ukraine, Israel.
Posted: Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Congress took up the motion Tuesday, and eight Republicans joined House Democrats in voting to dump the speaker. Despite the threat to his leadership, McCarthy passed the temporary budget bill, with the support of Democrats, just hours before the shutdown deadline Saturday night. Then, on Oct. 3, McCarthy became the first House speaker in history to be removed by a motion to vacate. George Briggs, a Whig from Massachusetts, then said he would support Pennington the next day. On the 41st ballot, Pennington and Sherman abstained in an attempt to lower the number of votes needed to win a majority, but Pennigton still fell short.
Toward the end of the 19th century, the office of speaker began to develop into a very powerful one. At the time, one of the most important sources of the speaker's power was his position as Chairman of the Committee on Rules, which, after the reorganization of the committee system in 1880, became one of the most powerful standing committees of the House. Furthermore, several speakers became leading figures in their political parties; examples include Democrats Samuel J. Randall, John Griffin Carlisle, and Charles F. Crisp, and Republicans James G. Blaine, Thomas Brackett Reed, and Joseph Gurney Cannon. Additionally, since many speakers held office for multiple terms, often with non-consecutive periods, the time listed for each speaker represents the total length of their time as speaker. It is important to note that the period between the adjournment of one Congress and the convening of the next Congress is not included in the calculations.

Schuyler Colfax received a majority of the votes cast and was elected speaker. In 1989 Speaker Jim Wright of Texas resigned under pressure following revelations about a book deal the House Ethics Committee saw as circumventing fundraising rules. Longworth's successor, John "Cactus Jack" Garner of Texas, left the office after just over a year to be Franklin Roosevelt's first vice president. Gingrich managed to restore many of the powers of the speakership but clashed repeatedly with Clinton and even with Republican leaders in the Senate. In 1997, in his second Congress as speaker, he barely survived a largely covert challenge from within his own leadership team.
The first speaker of the House whom living Americans might still remember is Sam Rayburn, the legendary leader of the Democrats in the House from 1940 until his death in 1961. Rayburn was speaker for all but four of those years, stepping down twice when Republicans seized the majority in 1946 and 1952 (losing it again, both times, after just two years). Rayburn was an inside player, known not for making speeches but for making laws by making deals. Perhaps better than any 20th-century speaker, he managed the powerful senior members who otherwise were "chairmen for life" and ruled their committee fiefdoms with little accountability. Rayburn also held together the widely disparate parts of his party, which included hardcore segregationists from the Deep South as well as African-American members from the nation's largest cities.
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