	Regular and Special Elections of the Speaker

The traditional practice of the House is to elect a Speaker by roll call vote upon first convening after a general election of Representatives. Customarily, the conference of each major party in the House selects a candidate whose name is formally placed in nomination before the roll call. A Member may vote for one of these nominated candidates or for another individual. In the great majority of cases, Members vote for the candidate nominated by their own party conferences, since the outcome of this vote in effect establishes which party has the majority and therefore will organize the House. Included in the table are not only the elections held regularly at the outset of each Congress but also those held during the course of a Congress as a result of the death or resignation of a sitting Speaker. On the more recent three, the same procedure was followed as at the start of a Congress. A candidate for Speaker may receive a majority of the votes cast, and be elected, while failing to obtain a majority of the full membership because some Members either are not present to vote or instead answer "present" rather than voting for a candidate. If no candidate obtains the requisite majority, the roll call is repeated. Thus the Republican was ultimately elected, although (as noted earlier) still with less than a majority of the full membership. Such action occurred in 11 of the 16 Congresses (63 rd -78 th ) that convened from 1913 through 1943. The demise of this movement in the House represented the final stage in the establishment of a two-party system at the national level. From 1945 through 1995 (79 th -104 th Congresses), only the official nominees of the two major parties received votes for Speaker. In 10 of the 13 speakership elections since then (1997-2019), at least one Member has voted for a candidate other than ones formally nominated by the major party conferences. During this period, only in the initial election of 2015 have the names of any candidates other than those of the party conferences been formally placed in nomination. The ballots in 1997, 2013, 2015 (both instances), and 2019 were also notable because votes were cast for candidates who were not Members of the House at the time. In the initial election in 2015, two of the votes cast were for sitting Members of the Senate; in 2019, one such ballot was cast. Although the Constitution does not require the Speaker (or any other officer of either chamber) to be a Member, the Speaker has always been so; it is not known that any votes for individuals other than Members to be Speaker had ever previously been cast in the history of the House.
Each new House elects a Speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes. Customarily, the conference of each major party nominates a candidate whose name is placed in nomination. A Member normally votes for the candidate of his or her own party conference but may vote for any individual, whether nominated or not. To be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of all the votes cast for individuals. This number may be less than a majority (now 218) of the full membership of the House because of vacancies, absentees, or Members answering "present."
This report provides data on elections of the Speaker in each Congress since 1913, when the House first reached its present size of 435 Members. During that period (63rd through 116th Congresses), a Speaker was elected five times with the votes of less than a majority of the full membership.
If a Speaker dies or resigns during a Congress, the House immediately elects a new one. Five such elections occurred since 1913. In the earlier two cases, the House elected the new Speaker by resolution; in the more recent three, the body used the same procedure as at the outset of a Congress.
If no candidate receives the requisite majority, the roll call is repeated until a Speaker is elected. Since 1913, this procedure has been necessary only in 1923, when nine ballots were required before a Speaker was elected.
From 1913 through 1943, more often than not, some Members voted for candidates other than those of the two major parties. The candidates in question were usually those representing the "progressive" group (reformers originally associated with the Republican Party), and in some Congresses, their names were formally placed in nomination on behalf of that group. From 1945 through 1995, only the nominated Republican and Democratic candidates received votes, reflecting the establishment of an exclusively two-party system at the national level.
In 10 of the 13 elections since 1997, however, some Members have voted for candidates other than the official nominees of their parties. Only in the initial election in 2015, however, were any such candidates formally placed in nomination. Usually, the additional candidates receiving votes have been other Members of the voter's own party, but in one instance, in 2001, a Member voted for the official nominee of the other party. In the 1997, 2013, 2015 (both instances), and 2019 elections, votes were cast for candidates who were not then Members of the House, including, in the initial 2015 election and the 2019 election, sitting Senators. Although the Constitution does not so require, the Speaker has always been a Member of the House.
The report will be updated as additional elections for Speaker occur.