October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election:

Following the successful motion to vacate the speakership of Kevin McCarthy on October 3, 2023, the members of the U.S. House are expected to hold a snap election for speaker of the House. McCarthy had previously been elected on January 7, 2023, after fifteen rounds of voting in the January speakership election at the start of the 118th Congress.

Process and conventions[edit]

Following the vote to remove McCarthy, House Republicans and Democrats will hold caucus meetings to nominate candidates for the speakership. A simple majority of the caucus is required to put forward a nominee.^[1]

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress (i.e. biennially, after a general election) 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.^[2] Traditionally, each party’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 the majority and consequently is expected to organize the House.^[3] Representatives that choose to vote for someone other than their party’s nominated candidate usually vote for someone else in their party or vote “present“.

Moreover, as the 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.^[4] Nevertheless, every person elected speaker has been a member.^[3]

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. It happened in the previous election, in January 2023 (118th Congress), when Kevin McCarthy 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. Upon winning election the new speaker is immediately sworn in by the Dean of the United States House of Representatives, the chamber’s longest-serving member.^[5][6]

Democratic nomination[edit]

Candidates[edit]

Nominee[edit]

Republican nomination[edit]

Candidates[edit]

• Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States
• Marjorie Taylor Greene Q-Anon conspiracy theorist, U.S. representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district since 2021.

Nominee[edit]

Declined[edit]

Election[edit]

Motion to vacate[edit]

The motion to vacate the speakership was proposed by Matt Gaetz.^[8]

After Matt Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate, Representative Tom Cole (OK-04), a Republican, moved to table the motion. The vote failed.^[9]

Republicans voting against the motion to table were:^[10]

Vote to vacate[edit]

Following the failed vote to table, the House proceeded with debate, followed by a vote to vacate. The vote passed, ousting McCarthy from the speakership.^[11]

Republicans voting for the motion to vacate were:

References[edit]