What to expect in Tuesday's vote for House Speaker

The House will convene Tuesday to officially end the 113th Congress and launch the 114th Congress, a process that will involve a very public election for the next Speaker of the House.

While most other House votes are done with the push of a button, elections for Speaker require members to stand and declare who they support, which gives voters a clear look at where their member Congress stands.

The House will reconvene Tuesday and elect a Speaker of the House — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is facing a challenge from two other House members this time around.
Image: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The process will start with nominations, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to be nominated along with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). This time, however, at least two other Republicans are expected to be nominated — Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.).

Each nomination will be accompanied by a short speech explaining why the nominee should be the next speaker. Then, the House clerk will appoint tellers and move immediately to the vote.

Members will be called alphabetically, and asked to say out loud who they want to serve as speaker.

There are 246 Republicans in the House — there were 247, but Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) resigned over the break after pleading guilty to tax evasion.

That means up to 28 Republicans can either vote for someone other than Boehner, or vote "present," and still give Boehner the 218 majority he needs to win the speakership again. But if 29 or more Republicans vote against Boehner, no one will get a majority, and a second ballot will be called.

Gohmert has said he hopes a second ballot would give Republicans who don't want Boehner to return more time to convince other members to follow their lead. But a second vote would also be accompanied by heavy pressure on Gohmert and Yoho to step aside and give Boehner the win. Voting will continue until one person reaches a majority.

As Gohmert has pointed out, there is no risk that the House elects Pelosi as speaker unless several dozen Republicans were to vote "present," which would lower the majority vote needed to win to a point at which the minority Democrats would have enough votes to elect Pelosi. Gohmert has said 59 Republicans would have to vote "present" in order for this to happen.

Once a speaker is elected, both he and Pelosi will deliver short speeches, and then all members will be sworn into the 114th Congress. House aides said a full work week is expected, beginning on Wednesday, with votes on legislation to encourage companies to hire veterans and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.