The Last Battle For Speaker

During the decades leading up to the Civil War, the election of a Speaker was a serious contest, sometimes taking several days and multiple ballots. Although this became less common after the Civil War, one final major battle for the Speakership occurred in 1923, when the contest for Speaker lasted two days and required eight ballots. Since then, Speakers have been elected on a single ballot.

Why have there been no battles for Speaker since 1923? To answer this question, let's consider how Speakers are currently elected.

Every two years, the House of Representatives elects a Speaker. Under current procedures, before the election is held, the Democratic and Republican members of the House meet separately in a group known as a caucus. In these meetings, each party caucus holds an election to choose the party's nominee for the position of Speaker.

After the House officially convenes for the first time in January, one of the first orders of business is the election of a Speaker. At that time, each party announces that it has one nominee. Then a vote is taken. Ordinarily, all of the Democrats vote in favor of the Democratic candidate, and all of the Republicans vote in favor of the Republican candidate. The candidate with more votes wins. This means that the Speaker of the House is always a member of the majority party.

This procedure also virtually ensures that only one ballot will be required to elect a Speaker, for the following reasons:

• Now, one party always has a majority. During the pre-Civil War era two political parties dominated the House, but there were also a handful of House members who belonged to smaller parties. Occasionally, no single party would hold an outright majority in the House, making it difficult for any single candidate to achieve a majority vote. For the past several decades, however, third parties have been almost nonexistent in the House. As a result, one party (either the Democrats or the Republicans) has always held an outright majority in the House, permitting them to elect one of their own members on the first ballot on a straight party-line vote.
• There is strong party discipline. During the Civil War era, even the major political parties were divided by the slavery question. This produced multiple candidates, which split the vote and made it difficult to achieve a majority. In contrast, today's political parties nominate only one candidate each. In addition, the parties insist that their members vote in favor of the party's candidate for Speaker. It is very rare for members of the House to vote against their party's candidate.

Until a third political party gains enough strength in Congress to deprive any single party of an absolute majority, it is unlikely that we will ever again see a major battle for the Speakership on the floor of the House.