October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

Following the successful motion to vacate the speakership of Kevin McCarthy of California on October 3, 2023, the members of the U.S. House of Representatives began holding an extremely rare intra-term election for speaker of the House on October 17. In the 118th Congress, McCarthy's House Republican Conference holds the majority of seats. He had previously been elected on January 7, 2023, after an unusual fifteen rounds of voting in the January speakership election. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, also a Republican, served as speaker pro tempore until a new speaker was elected. This was the 129th speaker election since the office was created in 1789. On the fourth ballot of voting on October 25, 2023, the Republican Party's fourth nominee, Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected the 56th speaker of the House.

Hakeem Jeffries of New York was unanimously nominated by the House Democratic Caucus on October 10. Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana was initially nominated by the House Republican Conference on October 11, but he withdrew from the race the next day. Jim Jordan of Ohio was nominated on a second internal Republican conference vote on October 13.

In the first round of voting, Jeffries received 212 votes from all Democrats, Jim Jordan received 200 votes from most Republicans, and seven others received some Republican votes despite not being formally nominated. As no person received the majority of votes cast, a second round of voting was necessary. On the second round, a net of two Republicans switched their vote from Jordan to other candidates. In the third round, a further three switched their vote from Jordan, bringing the total Republicans against Jordan to 25. As it had become clear Jordan did not have enough support to be elected Speaker, the House Republican Conference voted to remove him as the Republican Party's nominee for Speaker.

On October 24, the conference nominated Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who withdrew shortly after former president Donald Trump voiced his opposition to Emmer's candidacy. That night, Louisiana representative and conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson was selected in Emmer's place, having previously come in second place against him.

In the fourth round, held on October 25, Johnson received 220 votes and was elected speaker, while Jeffries came in second place with 209 votes. Unlike previous ballots, no Republicans defected, and every representative present voted for their party's nominee for Speaker.

Background
On October 2, Matt Gaetz of Florida filed a motion to vacate, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days. Gaetz filed the motion after McCarthy relied on Democrats to help pass a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government through November 17, averting a government shutdown. Voting began the following day; McCarthy ruled out a deal involving support from Democrats in exchange for concessions. Following an unsuccessful vote to table (kill) the motion, the motion passed by a vote of 216–210, with Republican representatives Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale voting along with all Democrats to remove McCarthy. This was the first time in congressional history the House voted to remove an incumbent speaker during an active congressional legislative session.

In accordance with procedures that had been established in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, McCarthy at the start of his term created a secret ordered list of members to temporarily act as speaker of the House if the speakership becomes vacant. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was at the top of McCarthy's list and became the speaker pro tempore following McCarthy's removal. Immediately after becoming acting speaker, McHenry called the House into recess in order to allow time before a speakership floor vote for the party caucuses to each meet in order "to discuss the path forward".

Process and nominations
The speaker of the House of Representatives is the House's presiding officer, and the position is explicitly established by the Constitution of the United States. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress (i.e. after a general election) or when a speaker dies, resigns, or is removed from the position by a vote held during an active term.

The selection of a speaker has the highest priority in the operation of the House, and is described in Rule #1 of the 118th United States Congress Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. In past cases when the speakership has been vacant, the House has not conducted any other business until completing the election of a new speaker. Differing opinions have been expressed about whether this is the only action that is allowed to be taken during such a period, and particularly regarding whether the House could pass legislation during such a period or not, but it has never been attempted.

Following the vote to remove McCarthy, House Republicans and Democrats held separate caucus meetings to determine who their respective party caucuses (the House Republican Conference and House Democratic Caucus) would support for the speakership. In such votes, both caucuses require a simple majority of caucus members in order for a candidate to receive the nomination of the caucus.

Since 1839, the House has elected speakers by roll call vote. Traditionally, each party's caucus 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. 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".

The Constitution does not explicitly require the Speaker to be an incumbent member of the House and non-members have received votes in multiple Speaker elections since 1997. Nevertheless, every speaker has been a member and the constitutionality of the eligibility of non-members to serve as Speaker is disputed.

To be elected speaker, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast, as contrasted with 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. One of these instances was in the previous speakership election, in January 2023 (118th Congress), when Kevin McCarthy was elected with 216 votes (less than 218 due to "present" votes, which indicate abstention). 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. 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. 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.

Democratic nomination
On October 10, 2023, the House Democratic Caucus voted unanimously for Hakeem Jeffries of New York (the incumbent chair of the House Democratic Caucus and incumbent House Minority Leader) to be its nominee. Jeffries had been the Democratic Caucus' nominee in the January 2023 speakership election, in which all present Democratic members unanimously voted for him across all fifteen rounds of balloting.

Lead-up to first conference vote
After the speakership was vacated on October 3, a number of different candidates for the Republican nomination indicated interest including Jim Jordan of Ohio, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, and former president Donald Trump. On October 4, Jordan and Scalise announced their candidacies. That same day, Troy Nehls of Texas announced that he would nominate Trump for speaker. Trump publicly considered running for the position, even weighing a visit to the Capitol to gather support for his bid. On the evening of October 5, Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he would not run for speaker and instead would endorse Jim Jordan.

On Friday, October 6, it was reported that a televised debate was planned to be hosted by Bret Baier of Fox News between Scalise, Jordan and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma on the following Monday. However, several Republican representatives criticized the planned debate as a "circus". In response, Scalise, Jordan and Hern each announced they would not participate, and the event was cancelled.

Scalise nomination
The first House Republican Conference vote was held on October 11, 2023. Prior to the vote, House Republicans tabled (killed) a motion from Representative Chip Roy that would have required the Republican nominee to receive 217 votes, instead of a simple majority, to become the nominee. Despite a challenge from Jordan, Scalise won the majority of votes, becoming the Republican nominee for speaker of the House. Only 212 out of 224 conference members cast a vote for either Scalise or Jordan. In an interview released shortly after the vote, Ken Buck claimed that he had voted present, as he was not satisfied with either candidate. Representative Cory Mills missed the vote because he was in Israel helping to evacuate Americans impacted by the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Many lawmakers declined to run, notably Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, and former president Donald Trump.

Minutes after the meeting concluded, representatives Lauren Boebert, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, Max Miller, Barry Moore, and Lloyd Smucker said that they would continue to vote for Jordan on the House floor. Representative Carlos Gimenez said he would vote for Kevin McCarthy on the floor unless McCarthy told him otherwise. These defections were unexpected since abiding by the results of an internal nominee selection was "historically a given". With not enough votes to elect Scalise speaker on the House floor, Republicans decided to postpone the floor vote, which had been scheduled to be held that afternoon. On October 12, after another postponement of the floor vote, Scalise withdrew his candidacy. That same day, Representative Mike Rogers suggested that Republicans would have to work with Democrats to elect a speaker. Following Scalise's withdrawal, other Republicans and Democrats expressed openness to such a bipartisan coalition.

Jordan nomination
The second House Republican Conference vote was held on October 13, 2023. After losing to Steve Scalise in the first vote held on October 11, Jim Jordan won the majority of the votes, becoming the Republican nominee for speaker of the House, despite a late challenge from Austin Scott. Seven members of the conference cast a ballot for someone other than Jordan or Scott, and one member voted present. Mike Johnson also considered running, but decided not to, and endorsed Jordan instead.

Immediately after the second vote, the House Republican Conference held a validation vote asking representatives whether they would support Jordan on the floor. 152 voted yes, while 55 voted no. One member voted present.

During the four days between the Republican conference vote and the first floor vote on Tuesday, October 17, many influential Republicans who have opposed Jordan, such as Mike Rogers, Ann Wagner, and Ken Calvert, flipped to supporting him. Many previous holdouts changed their support to Jordan as he agreed to link funding for aid to Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars.

To build support for his candidacy, lawmakers and activists allied with Jordan took to interviews and social media to pressure Republicans to back Jordan. Several Republicans reported receiving threatening phone calls and text messages after voting against Jordan on the House floor. Jordan called for a stop to such threatening activities.

With the Jordan nomination floundering on the floor of the House after two adverse votes, some members of both parties, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, expressed support for expanding Rep. Patrick McHenry's powers as temporary speaker until a permanent speaker could be chosen. While initially opposed to the idea, Jordan, on October 19, announced that he would back a plan to temporarily expand the powers that McHenry has as Speaker pro tempore until January 3, 2024. Later that day, however, he told reporters that there would not be a resolution to expand McHenry's powers, after it became clear that most House Republicans would not support it. Many in the conference echoed the sentiment that the resolution would be "a giant betrayal to Republicans", and some others noted that voting on the resolution "might actually exacerbate divides within the conference" and passing it with the help of Democratic votes "would set off the fuse that would certainly end in civil war within the GOP".

On October 20, after three unsuccessful ballots in which an increasing number of Republicans voted against Jordan, the conference reconvened and held a vote on whether to keep or remove Jordan as the party's nominee. 112 voted to remove Jordan, while 86 voted to keep him.

Emmer nomination
House Republicans held a candidate forum for nominee candidates on October 23. Each member running for Speaker signed a pledge to support the eventual nominee. They met October 24, to pick a new speaker nominee from a field of seven candidates (originally nine). The voting took place behind closed doors via secret ballot. The candidate receiving the fewest votes in each round was eliminated. Voting continued until the fifth ballot at which point Emmer received a majority of the vote over Rep. Mike Johnson.

Immediately after the election, the conference held a roll-call vote, where 25 members indicated that they would vote for someone other than Emmer on the House floor or vote present.

After the roll-call vote, former president Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that he opposed Emmer’s bid for speaker and called him a RINO in front of the press. Four hours after Emmer was nominated, he withdrew from the speaker race after it became clear that he could not get 217 votes on the House floor.

Johnson nomination
Following Emmer's withdrawal, the Republican conference began a fresh attempt to select a new speaker nominee. A candidate forum began on October 24 at 6 pm. It then held a multi-ballot conference vote from which Johnson prevailed.

The conference then held a roll call vote to indicate the level of support for Johnson's nomination on the floor. All named votes were in his favor, with three voting present and 22 not voting or absent.

Calls for a bipartisan coalition
On October 4, Democratic representative Vicente Gonzalez suggested that he would be open to doing a deal with House Republicans and vote for a moderate Republican speaker such as McHenry or Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who also co-chairs the Problem Solvers Caucus. However on October 5, Fitzpatrick said he has no interest in running for speaker and is only interested in working on behalf of PA's 1st congressional district, saying it would be the only office he would ever run for.

In an October 6 op-ed in The Washington Post, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries proposed that "Republican partners willing to break with MAGA extremism should work with Democrats in the chamber to strike a deal to form a 'bipartisan governing coalition.'" Jeffries wrote that under such a deal, the "House should be restructured to promote governance by consensus and facilitate up-or-down votes on bills that have strong bipartisan support" and argued that this approach would "reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing". In an appearance on All In with Chris Hayes on the same day, Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland suggested that moderate Republicans should strike a governing deal with Democrats and support Jeffries, an independent like Angus King, or an anti-Trump Republican such as Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney as Speaker. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman floated the idea of former president George W. Bush becoming the next speaker.

The task of selecting a new speaker took on new urgency with the start of the Israel–Hamas war on October 7. With all legislative activity in the U.S. House effectively halted while the speakership was vacant, a bipartisan consensus to authorize more military aid to Israel could not be formally acted upon. In addition, an additional aid package to Ukraine to counter Russia's invasion was a point of contention in the budget negotiations that averted a government shutdown on September 30; the aid to Ukraine was not included in the stopgap bill due to far-right opposition, but Democrats believe a majority exists in the chamber to enact it as a standalone bill. President Biden delivered an Oval Office address on October 19 in which he proposed $105 billion in spending to bolster U.S. leadership in global affairs, including $14 billion in aid to Israel and $60 billion in aid to Ukraine. Moreover, the protracted speaker election had impacted efforts to pass the federal budget for fiscal-year 2024. The continuing resolution enacted on September 30 was set to expire on November 17.

Ballots 1–3 (October 17–20)
The election of the speaker began on October 17, 2023. At the time of the election, there were two vacant seats (RI's 1st congressional district and UT's 2nd congressional district). On the first ballot, Elise Stefanik of New York gave a nominating speech for Jordan and Pete Aguilar of California gave a nominating speech for Jeffries. Twenty Republicans voted for someone other than Jordan, and one was absent.

Another round of voting began on October 18. On the second ballot, Tom Cole of Oklahoma nominated Jordan. Aguilar again nominated Jeffries. Twenty-two Republicans voted for someone other than Jordan, with no absent members. Jordan's opposition on the second ballot was greater than any opposition McCarthy faced in the January election. The Washington Post reported that "a coordinated effort" among House Republicans opposed to Jordan would "ensure that he loses more votes each round", which was indeed borne out on the second ballot.

A third vote was expected to take place on October 19, but Jordan postponed the vote; instead backing a plan to temporarily expand the powers of Patrick McHenry as Speaker pro tempore. However, after a three hour closed-door meeting, a significant portion of House Republicans said they would oppose such a motion. Initially, Jordan announced that a third vote would be scheduled for later in the day, but the vote was later pushed to the next day, October 20.

Another round of voting began on October 20. On the third ballot, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy of California nominated Jordan. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts nominated Jeffries. Twenty-five Republicans voted for someone other than Jordan, and four House members were absent.

Observers noted that many of those opposed to Jordan's nomination were from the moderate and more traditionally conservative wings of the party, many of whom represent competitive districts where voting for Jordan, seen as a right-wing figure, may be politically detrimental. Several Republicans who voted against Jordan on the first two ballots reported receiving death threats and other threats to their safety, to themselves and their family members. Ken Buck, Drew Ferguson, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks each said they received death threats. Don Bacon said his wife received threatening messages, and Ferguson said credible threats prompted him to dispatch a sheriff to his daughter's school.

Following the third ballot, the Republican conference voted by secret ballot to remove Jordan as their nominee.

Ballot 4 (October 25)
A fourth speaker ballot occurred on October 25. On the fourth ballot, Elise Stefanik of New York gave a nominating speech for Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Pete Aguilar of California gave a nominating speech for Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Johnson was elected with 220 votes, surpassing the 215-vote threshold required to win with 429 members present. On the fourth ballot, every present member voted for their party nominee; there were no defectors.

All ballots: votes not cast for party nominee
All House members voted for their party's nominee on every ballot, except those members noted here.

Timeline

 * October 2: Gaetz files a motion to vacate the chair
 * October 3: McCarthy is removed as speaker after the House votes to adopt the motion to vacate the chair. McHenry becomes acting speaker and immediately calls the House into recess
 * October 4: Scalise, Jordan, and Hern declare themselves candidates for the Republican Conference's nomination
 * October 5: Former president Donald Trump announces that he will not seek the Republican Conference nomination for the speakership, and will instead support Jordan's candidacy
 * October 7: Israel–Hamas war begins, adding greater urgency to the selection of a new speaker
 * October 10: Democratic Caucus votes unanimously for Jeffries to be its nominee
 * October 11: Republican Conference votes by secret ballot for Scalise to be its nominee, with Scalise defeating Jordan
 * October 12: Scalise withdraws his candidacy
 * October 13: Republican Conference votes by secret ballot for Jordan to be its nominee, with Jordan defeating Austin Scott. Republican Conference then holds a roll call vote in which 55 members indicate that they would not commit to voting for Jordan in a floor vote
 * October 17–18: Two House floor votes fail to produce a speaker
 * October 19: Jordan proposes expanding McHenry's powers as acting speaker until January 3, 2024. Hours later, due to opposition within the Republican Conference, Jordan abandons this proposal
 * October 20:
 * A third floor vote fails to produce a speaker
 * Republican Conference holds an internal vote on whether it supports retaining Jordan as its nominee and votes to revoke their nomination of Jordan
 * October 23: Republican Conference holds a candidate forum
 * October 24:
 * Republican Conference votes by secret ballot for Emmer to be its nominee, with Emmer defeating Johnson, Byron Donalds, Kevin Hern, Austin Scott, Jack Bergman, and Pete Sessions. Republican Conference then holds a roll call vote in which 25 members indicate that they would not commit to supporting Emmer in a floor vote
 * Emmer withdraws his candidacy approximately four hours after becoming the Republican Conference nominee
 * Republican Conference votes by secret ballot for Johnson to be its nominee, with Johnson defeating Byron Donalds, Mark Green, Roger Williams, and Chuck Fleischmann. Republican Conference then holds a roll call vote in which 196 members indicate that they will support Johnson in a floor vote, but in which 3 members indicate that they will vote "present" and 22 members are either absent or otherwise cast no vote
 * October 25: On the fourth overall floor vote, Johnson is elected speaker