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There’s been some chatter over the past year from some quarters of the House GOP about making an outsider speaker when Republicans assume the majority in the new Congress, prompting the question: Can they even do that?
Earlier this year, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pledged to nominate former President Donald Trump to lead the chamber, and last week, former Rep. Justin Amash offered himself up as a candidate, promising to be a “nonpartisan” speaker if front-runner Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) fails to secure enough votes from the GOP conference in January.
The short answer is that it is possible, constitutionally speaking, to run for the speakership even if you are not a member of the House, but your chances of winning are slim to none.
Whoever becomes speaker in the new Republican-led House in January, whether it’s current Minority Leader McCarthy or someone else in an upset victory, they will likely be a member of the body — they just technically aren’t required to be.
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The Constitution simply says the “House of Representatives shall [choose] their Speaker and other Officers,” making no mention of the qualifications of these officers. Historically, every speaker has been selected from within the chamber, though random outsiders may receive a few votes from detractors unwilling to vote for the leading candidate. For example, during the 2019 speakership vote in which Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected, two people voted for Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), one for now-President Joe Biden, and one for former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
In March, Gaetz said at a Florida rally he wanted Republicans to “fire Nancy Pelosi, take back the majority, impeach Joe Biden, and I am going to nominate Donald Trump for speaker of the United States House of Representatives.” He initially floated the idea of a “Speaker” Trump the year before.
Trump, speaking at the March rally, responded, “Well, that was interesting.” In June, his spokesman told reporters that the former president has “zero interest” in the job. Gaetz has seemingly shifted his support to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who mounted a challenge to McCarthy backed by the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Since Republicans will have a very small majority, there’s been talk of centrists from both parties teaming up to force a vote on their choice of speaker. Amash, a former representative from Michigan who left the GOP for the Libertarian Party, would welcome the move.
“If neither party has the votes to elect a speaker of the House, I’d be happy to serve as a nonpartisan speaker who ensures the institution works as it’s supposed to—a place where all ideas are welcome and where outcomes are discovered through the process, not dictated from above,” Amash tweeted on Nov. 15.
Another name floated was Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who lost her primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate after she bucked GOP leadership to vote for his second impeachment and become vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 committee.
https://twitter.com/juliegraceb/status/1590891608203210757
Another quirk of the system is that prospective speakers don’t always have to receive 218 votes, or a majority of the entire House, to assume the role — only more than 50% of the members present and voting. Pelosi won another term as speaker in 2021 with 216 votes because three members voted “present.”
In July 2021, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced a bill that would ensure only members of the House would be eligible for the role of speaker. It has not seen movement since its introduction.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER.
“The Speaker of the U.S. House is second in the United States presidential line of succession. That Donald Trump’s name would even be tossed around as a potential speaker in the people’s house, should serve as an alarm bell that our current requirements need to be amended in the name of protecting our nation and our democracy,” Boyle said in a statement.
The speaker election will be held on Jan. 3, the first day of the new Congress. Republicans nominated McCarthy for the position in a 188-31 vote, with strong resistance from the Freedom Caucus.
