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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.[1]


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.[2]

Democratic nomination[edit]

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 House Minority Leader) to be its nominee.[26] Jeffries had been the Democratic Caucus' nominee in the January 2023 speakership election,[27][26] in which all present Democratic members unanimously voted for him across all fifteen rounds of balloting.[28]

Republican nomination[edit]

Lead-up to first conference vote[edit]

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.[29] That same day, Troy Nehls of Texas announced that he would nominate Trump for speaker.[30] Trump publicly considered running for the position, even weighing a visit to the Capitol to gather support for his bid.[31] 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.[32]


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.[33] 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.[33]

Calls for a bipartisan coalition[edit]

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.[80] However on October 5, Fitzpatrick said he has no interest in running for speaker and is only interested in working on behalf of Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district, saying it would be the only office he would ever run for.[81]


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.'"[82][83] 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".[84] 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.[85][86] Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman floated the idea of former president George W. Bush becoming the next speaker.[87]


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.[88] 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.[88] 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.[89] 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.[88]

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:

October 23: Republican Conference holds a candidate forum

October 24:

October 25: On the fourth overall floor vote, Johnson is elected speaker

List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives