Speaker Elections Decided by Multiple Ballots
The House has elected a Speaker 129 times since 1789. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of the new Congress by a majority of the Representatives-elect from a selection of candidates nominated on the floor prior to the vote. Usually, those candidates are chosen separately by the majority- and minority-party caucuses in a closed-door vote before the start of a new Congress. Members-elect have three options during the election for Speaker: they may vote for a particular candidate; they may vote “present,” which registers their attendance but lowers the threshold needed to win; or they may abstain from the vote. From 1789 to 1839, lawmakers elected the Speaker using secret ballots. But since the opening of the 26th Congress (1839–1841), amid heightened sectional tensions over slavery, the House has elected the Speaker viva voce, by voice vote. In cases of an unexpected vacancy during a Congress a new Speaker is elected by a majority of the House from candidates nominated prior to the election.
There have been 16 instances of Speaker elections requiring multiple ballots (the records for the 2nd Congress, 1791–1793, are inconclusive, and the House has filled vacancies in the Speakership three times using a resolution). Thirteen multiple-ballot elections occurred before the Civil War, when party divisions were more nebulous. The last time a Speaker election required two or more votes on the floor happened in 2023.
Congress (Years) | Name | State | Final Ballot | Election Date(s) | Total Calendar Days |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3rd Congress (1793–1795) | MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus Conrad | PA | 3rd | December 2, 1793 | 1 |
6th Congress (1799–1801) | SEDGWICK, Theodore | MA | 2nd | December 2, 1799 | 1 |
9th Congress (1805–1807) | MACON, Nathaniel | NC | 3rd | December 2, 1805 | 1 |
11th Congress (1809–1811) | VARNUM, Joseph Bradley | MA | 2nd | May 22, 1809 | 1 |
16th Congress (1819–1821) | TAYLOR, John W.1 | NY | 22nd | November 13–15, 1820 | 3 |
17th Congress (1821–1823) | BARBOUR, Philip Pendleton | VA | 12th | December 3–4, 1821 | 2 |
19th Congress (1825–1827) | TAYLOR, John W. | NY | 2nd | December 5, 1825 | 1 |
23rd Congress (1833–1835) | BELL, John2 | TN | 10th | June 2, 1834 | 1 |
26th Congress (1839–1841) | HUNTER, Robert Mercer Taliaferro | VA | 11th | December 14–16, 1839 | 3 |
30th Congress (1847–1849) | WINTHROP, Robert Charles | MA | 3rd | December 6, 1847 | 1 |
31st Congress (1849–1851) | COBB, Howell | GA | 63rd | December 3–22, 1849 | 20 |
34th Congress (1855–1857) | BANKS, Nathaniel Prentice | MA | 133rd | December 3, 1855–February 2, 1856 | 62 |
36th Congress (1859–1861) | PENNINGTON, William | NJ | 44th | December 5, 1859–February 1, 1860 | 59 |
68th Congress (1923–1925) | GILLETT, Frederick Huntington | MA | 9th | December 3–5, 1923 | 3 |
118th Congress (2023–2025) | MCCARTHY, Kevin | CA | 15th | January 3–7, 20233 | 5 |
118th Congress (2023–2025) | JOHNSON, Mike | LA | 4th | October 17–25, 2023 | 9 |
Footnotes
1Election held to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Speaker Henry Clay.
2Elected Speaker on June 2, 1834, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Speaker Andrew Stevenson.
3Elected Speaker on calendar day January 7, 2023, and legislative day January 6, 2023.