Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are elected every two years in secret balloting of their party caucuses or conferences: the House Democratic Caucus and the House Republican Conference. Depending on which party is in power, one party leader serves as majority leader and the other as minority leader.
This article is about political party floor leaders of the House. For the Speaker, who is usually the overall leader of the majority, see Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Unlike the Senate Majority Leader, the House Majority Leader is the second highest-ranking member of their party's House caucus, behind the Speaker of the House.[1] The Majority Leader is responsible for setting the annual legislative agenda, scheduling legislation for consideration, and coordinating committee activity.[2] The Minority Leader serves as floor leader of the opposition party, and is the minority counterpart to the Speaker. The Minority Leader also speaks for the minority party in the House and its policies, and works to protect the minority party's rights.[2]
The assistant majority leader and assistant minority leader of the House, commonly called whips, are the second-ranking members of each party's leadership. The main function of the majority and minority whips is to gather votes of their respective parties on major issues.
Selection[edit]
The floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot.[3] The Speaker-presumptive is assumed to be the incoming Speaker, although not formally selected to be nominated for Speaker by the majority party's caucus. After this period, the Speaker-designate is also chosen in a closed-door session by the largest caucus although the Speaker is formally elevated to the position by a public vote of the entire House when Congress reconvenes.
Like the Speaker of the House, the Minority Leaders are typically experienced lawmakers when they win election to this position. When Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, became Minority Leader in the 108th Congress, she had served in the House nearly 20 years and had served as minority whip in the 107th Congress. When her predecessor, Dick Gephardt, D-MO, became minority leader in the 104th House, he had been in the House for almost 20 years, had served as chairman of the Democratic Caucus for four years, had been a 1988 presidential candidate, and had been majority leader from June 1989 until Republicans captured control of the House in the November 1994 elections. Gephardt's predecessor in the minority leadership position was Robert Michel, R-IL, who became GOP Leader in 1981 after spending 24 years in the House. Michel's predecessor, Republican John Rhodes of Arizona, was elected Minority Leader in 1973 after 20 years of House service.
By contrast, party leaders of the United States Senate have often ascended to their position despite relatively few years of experience in that chamber, such as Lyndon B. Johnson, William Knowland, Tom Daschle, and Bill Frist. Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor also had a comparatively quick rise to the post and was the youngest House Majority Leader in American history.
History[edit]
Before 1899, the majority party floor leader had traditionally been the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, as it generates the Bills of Revenue specified in the Constitution as the House's unique power.[4] However, this designation (begun under Speaker Henry Clay during the 12th United States Congress) was informal, and after 1865, alternated between the Ways and Means Committee Chair and the House Appropriations Committee Chair after the latter committee was split from the former.[5] By at least 1850, the Senate and House Republican Conferences and the Senate and House Democratic Caucuses began naming chairs (although conference and caucus chairs carried very little authority).[6]
The office of Majority Leader was created in 1899 and first occupied by Sereno Payne.[7] Speaker David B. Henderson created the position to establish a party leader on the House floor separate from the Speaker, as the role of Speaker had become more prominent and the size of the House had grown from 105 at the beginning of the century to 356.
Starting with Republican Nicholas Longworth in 1925 and continuing until 1995, all majority leaders have directly ascended to the Speakership after the incumbent surrenders the position. The only exceptions during this period were Charles A. Halleck, who served as Majority Leader from 1947–1949 and again from 1953–1955 and did not become Speaker because his party lost the House in the 1948 and 1954 House elections, respectively, and would not regain the House until 1994 (Halleck had been dead for years at this point); Hale Boggs, who served as Majority Leader from 1971–1973, died in a plane crash; and Dick Gephardt, who served as Majority Leader from 1989–1995, descended to Minority Leader since his party lost control in the 1994 midterm elections.
Since 1995, the only two Majority Leaders to become Speaker are John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy, though indirectly as their party lost control in the 2006 and 2018 midterm elections. Boehner subsequently served as House Minority Leader from 2007 to 2011, and McCarthy served from 2019 to 2023. Both were elected Speaker when the House reconvened after gaining a majority in their respective midterm elections. In 1998, when Speaker Newt Gingrich announced his resignation, neither Majority Leader Dick Armey nor Majority Whip Tom DeLay contested the Speakership, which eventually went to Chief Deputy Whip Dennis Hastert.
Traditionally, the Speaker is viewed as the leader of the majority party in the House, with the Majority Leader as second-in-command. For example, when the Republicans gained the majority in the House after the 2010 elections, Boehner ascended to the Speakership while Eric Cantor succeeded Boehner as Majority Leader. Cantor was understood to be the second-ranking Republican in the House since Boehner was the indisputable leader of the House Republicans. However, there have been some exceptions. The most recent exception to this rule came when Majority Leader Tom DeLay was considered more prominent than Speaker Dennis Hastert from 2003 to 2006.[8]
In contrast, the Minority Leader is the undisputed leader of the minority party. For example, when the Republicans lost their majority in the 2018 elections, McCarthy was elected as Minority Leader and hence replaced Ryan as the highest-ranking House Republican.
When the Presidency and both Houses of Congress are controlled by one party, the Speaker normally takes a low profile and defers to the President. For that situation, the House Minority Leader can play the role of a de facto "leader of the opposition", often more so than the Senate Minority Leader, owing to the more partisan nature of the House and the greater role of leadership.
When the Majority Leader's party loses control of the House, and if the Speaker and Majority Leader both remain in the leadership hierarchy, convention suggests that they would become the Minority Leader and Minority Whip, respectively. As the minority party has one less leadership position after losing the speaker's chair, there may be a contest for the remaining leadership positions. Nancy Pelosi is the most recent example of an outgoing Speaker seeking the Minority Leader post to retain the House party leadership, as the Democrats lost control of the House in the 2010 elections. She ran successfully for Minority Leader in the 112th Congress.[9]
In 2014, Eric Cantor became the first House Majority Leader to lose a primary election. Following his primary defeat, Cantor announced his resignation as Majority Leader, effective July 31, 2014,[10][11][12][13][14][15] and he subsequently resigned his seat in Congress.[16]
Party whips and assistant party leaders[edit]
Whips[edit]
A whip manages their party's legislative program on the House floor. The whip keeps track of all legislation and ensures that all party members are present when important measures are to be voted upon.
The Majority Whip is an elected member of the majority party who assists the Speaker of the House and the majority leader to coordinate ideas on, and garner support for, proposed legislation. They are reckoned as the third-ranking member of their party behind the Speaker and the Majority Leader.
The Minority Whip is a member of the minority party who assists the minority leader in coordinating the party caucus in its responses to legislation and other matters. They are reckoned as the second most powerful member of their party, behind the minority leader.
The Chief Deputy Whip is the primary assistant to the whip, who is the chief vote counter for their party. The current chief deputy majority whip is Republican Guy Reschenthaler. Within the House Republican Conference, the chief deputy whip is the highest appointed position and often a launching pad for future positions in the House Leadership. Cantor and McCarthy, for instance, served as chief deputy Republican whips before ascending to the majority leader's post. The House Democratic Conference has multiple chief deputy whips, led by a Senior Chief Deputy Whip, which is the highest appointed position within the House Democratic Caucus. John Lewis held this post from 1991 until his death in 2020. Jan Schakowsky held the position of senior chief deputy majority whip along with Lewis since 2019, previously holding a position as chief deputy whip since 2005. Between 1955 and 1973, the Democrats simply had the title Deputy Whip.[52]
This article incorporates from Mark J. Oleszek. The Role of the House Minority Leader: An Overview (PDF). Congressional Research Service.
