The Speaker’s Lobby: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives

Constitution dictates that the 119th Congress begins at noon on Friday.

And the first order of business in the Chamber is to elect a constitutional official of the legislative branch of power: the speaker of the Chamber.

Only the Chamber votes for the Speaker. And the House cannot do anything – I repeat, nothing – until it elects a speaker.

He cannot swear in members to the House of Representatives touches the speaker and he or she is sworn in. The speaker then swears en masse with the rest of the body. The House must then adopt a package of rules to govern day-to-day operations. Only then can the House begin debating bills, voting and setting up committees for hearings.

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If the Chamber fails to elect a Speaker in the first round, it must proceed to the second round.

And on and on.

Consider for a moment that the House had never voted a second time for the Speaker in a century before Donnybrook two years ago. In 1923, it took four votes to re-elect the late Speaker of the House, Frederick Gillett, D-Mass.

What is past is prologue for Home. Think how in January 2023. The House held 15 rounds spread over five days before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif. The speakership remained vacant — and thus the House was frozen — for 22 days after Republicans abandoned McCarthy 9 months later. House Republicans then nominated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Republican, for speaker. Scalise withdrew his name before the vote took place. Then, House Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, became speaker. But Jordan has lost three straight votes for speaker in the House, losing support on each vote. House Republicans then nominated Tom Emmer, D-Minnesota, for speaker. Emer withdrew a few hours later.

Fox News Digital spoke briefly with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a rare appearance on Capitol Hill

House Republicans finally nominated House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, for the job. The Republican from Louisiana won on the floor. But since then, some conservatives have grown disillusioned with Johnson. They indicated how he had processed several interim expenses since last November. They did not like the fact that he allowed a bill on aid to Ukraine to the floor. They opposed him doing another interim spending bill in September. They really didn’t like the way he worked with Democrats on major pieces of legislation that needed to be done. And then there was the misstep with a staggering 1,500 page interim expense package what a Mr. Trump and Elon Musk sprayed from afar in December. Johnson then did President-elect Trump’s bidding with another spending package that included raising the debt ceiling. But 38 Republicans in the House of Representatives supported the bill.

Johnson’s tenure was therefore uneven. And that’s why he’s on the hook Friday afternoon during the vote for speaker. Everyone on Capitol Hill is on edge when it comes to getting this over with.

Here’s what’s happening at noon Friday:

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Acting Clerk of the House Kevin McCumber will preside until the House elects a speaker. The first order of business is the “call of the House of Representatives”. This is where the House determines how many of its elected members there are simply by voting “present”. House must take a look in 434 members: 219 Republicans and 215 Democrats. The vacancy must be one. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, resigned in the fall and said he had “no intention” of serving in the new Congress, despite winning re-election.

Watch to see if there are any absences in this House call. Democrats who have recently battled health issues, including Reps. Raul Grialvo, R-Ariz., Dwight Evans, R-Pennsylvania, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, R-Calif., are likely to be there, Fox was told. But electing a speaker is all about math. The number of legislators will be subject to the chamber of the House of Representatives, will depend on how much the speaker will vote.

Then it’s time to select the speeches. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, D-Michigan, will nominate Johnson for speaker. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., will nominate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-D. Then anyone else can put someone’s name in the nomination.

The House then names the list of elected members in alphabetical order. Each member stands up and responds verbally by naming their choice. Reps. Alma Adams, D-N.C., Robert Aderholt, R-Alab., and the aforementioned Aguilar are the first names off the block.

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

But legislators can vote for whoever they want. This includes people who are not members of the House of Representatives. That’s why the late Gen. Colin Powell, Sen. Rand Paul, D-Kyv., former Sen. Jeff Sessions, D-Ala., and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker have been voted for over the years.

Here’s what Johnson — or anyone else — needs to do to win the speakership:

The winning candidate must receive an absolute majority of all members voting for the nominated candidate.

So let’s say there are 434 members and everyone votes for someone by name. The magic number is 218. If Johnson gets all 219 Republican votes, he wins. If Johnson gets 218 votes, he also wins. But 217? No bones. Under those circumstances, Johnson would have likely edged Jeffries, 217-215 — with two votes that would have gone to the other candidate. But “majority of votes” does not win. 217 is not an absolute majority of the members of the House voting for someone by name. To elect a Speaker, the House must vote again.

Fox was told there are 12 to 17 Republicans who might vote for someone other than Johnson. And some Republicans are sly about their votes.

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Here’s what to watch: Members who vote “present”.

Instead of voting for someone other than Johnson, some Republicans may protest by simply voting “present.” The “current” vote does not count against Johnson.

So let’s do some hypothetical math:

Let’s say 434 members voted. Jeffries won the support of all 215 Democrats. Three Republicans vote “present.” In other words, do not vote for any candidate by name. Johnson gets 216 votes. He has the most votes. But more importantly, only 431 members voted for someone by name. 216 is an absolute majority of 431. 434 is irrelevant in the circumstances. So Johnson becomes Speaker.

But there is a serious danger in too many Republicans voting “present.”

Consider this scenario:

All 215 Democrats are voting for Jeffries. But five Republicans vote “present.” Johnson received 214 votes. 429 members voted for someone by name. The magic number here is 215. Guess who the speaker is? Jeffries. He collected an outright majority of all members who voted for the named candidate.

(Joe Riddle/Getty Images)

As they say in the movies, “You’re playing a very dangerous game, Mr. Bond.”

With such a small advantage in the House of Representatives, the Republicans to tinker at all with fire when they get too cute by half. yes. Some conservatives may not want to re-elect Johnson as speaker. But they certainly don’t want Jeffries.

So it’s hard to say what will happen on Friday afternoon. If the House hesitates too long, it could delay the certification of the Electoral College vote on Monday. The House and Senate are scheduled to meet in a joint session of Congress on January 6 to approve the election results. No speaker? No joint session.

But it’s likely something else will open up if it drags on. Johnson’s supporters and mainstream Republicans have dealt with right-wing ideologues, the Freedom Caucus and other freelancers. Expect an all-out fight between these two factions as Republicans vie for Speaker.

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And as we wrote earlier, what is past is prologue.

The protracted battle for the speakership serves as a prologue to brewing infighting among Republicans when it comes to governance. That’s not to mention the implementation of only one part of President-elect Trump’s agenda.