List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections

Prior to 1839, the House elected its speaker by paper ballot, but since, on all but three occasions, has done so by roll call vote.

Additionally, as the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly state that the speaker must be an incumbent member of the House, it is permissible for representatives to vote for someone who is not a member of the House at the time, and non-members have received a few votes in various speaker elections over the past several years.

Frederick Muhlenberg, who had promoted the ratification of the Constitution, received a majority of the votes cast and was elected speaker.

The faction was unable, however, to turn this numerical advantage into victory in the election for speaker, as several of them were not in attendance for the vote.

[10] A number of Democratic-Republicans did not support Macon's bid for a third term as he had broken ranks with President Jefferson and aligned himself with the splinter Quids faction.

Henry Clay, a freshman congressman, received a majority of the votes cast and was elected speaker.

[17] This marks the only time in American History a Speaker of the House was elected on their first ever day on its floor.

[17] On January 19, 1814, during the second session of the 13th Congress, Henry Clay resigned as speaker to accept a commission from President James Madison to serve as a negotiator for a peace agreement to end the War of 1812.

[17][23] In October 1820, between the first and the second session of the 16th Congress, Henry Clay resigned as speaker so he could return to his private law practice; he kept his House seat however, until his term ended the following March (he had not run for re-election in 1820).

The chief candidate of Northern antislavery members, John W. Taylor of New York, finally received a majority of the votes cast in the 22nd ballot and was elected speaker.

[26] In addition to discord over slavery, Taylor's path to victory was made even more difficult by a division within that state's congressional delegation between supporters of Governor DeWitt Clinton and those who opposed him (known as the Bucktails).

Perceived as an encroachment upon a constitutional prerogative of the House, the effort to influence the vote splintered Jacksonian party unity and energized the opposition.

John Bell ultimately received a majority of the votes cast in the 10th ballot and was elected speaker.

Finally, on the 11th ballot, Robert M. T. Hunter received a majority of the votes cast and was elected speaker.

[15] The election became a multi-ballot affair when a few "Conscience Whigs" initially refused to support Winthrop because he rejected their demand for a pledge to constitute key House committees so as to favor the reporting of antislavery legislation.

An election for speaker took place over the course of two months, December 3, 1855, through February 2, 1856, at the start of the 34th Congress, following the 1854–55 elections in which candidates primarily in Northern states running on various fusion tickets—included members from the Whig, Free Soil and American parties, along with members of the nascent Republican Party—grouped together under the Opposition Party label, won a majority of the seats.

This new, but transitional, party sprang-up amid the fallout from the Kansas–Nebraska Act (approved by Congress in mid 1854), which had sparked violence over slavery in Kansas and hardened sectional positions on the subject.

[60] Personal views on slavery drove members' words and actions during this protracted electoral contest.

William Pennington, a freshman congressman, received a majority of the votes cast in the 44th ballot and was elected speaker.

Immediately afterward, the House passed a motion declaring Theodore Pomeroy duly elected speaker in place of Colfax (for one day).

Michael C. Kerr, who had just returned to Congress after losing re-election two years earlier, received a majority of the votes cast and was elected speaker.

Cannon's election to a fourth term as speaker was challenged by a group of dissatisfied progressive Republicans, who voted for other people.

Democrats were able to retain control of the House by forming a Coalition with third-party (Progressive, Prohibition and Socialist) members.

After the Republicans lost four of the special elections called to fill the vacancies, when Congress convened, the Democrats held a three-seat majority in the House.

Consequently, when the House convened that day, a resolution declaring William B. Bankhead duly elected speaker was adopted by voice vote.

Accordingly, when the House convened the next day, a resolution declaring Sam Rayburn duly elected speaker was adopted by voice vote.

John Boehner received a majority of the votes cast, despite the defections of several members from his own party, and was re-elected speaker.

Due to division within the House Republican Conference, no candidate received a majority of the votes on the first ballot, necessitating what became the longest multiple-ballot speaker election since before the Civil War.

Mike Johnson received a majority of the votes cast in the fourth ballot and was elected speaker.

[217] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Federal government of the United States.