January 2015 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

The January 2015 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, the first of two Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections held that year, took place on January 6, 2015, at the start of the 114th Congress, two months after the 2014 elections. This was 123rd speaker election since the office was created in 1789. The incumbent, John Boehner, received 216 votes, a majority of the votes cast and was re-elected to office, despite a coordinated effort by Freedom Caucus Republicans to oust him.[1][2]

January 2015 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
January 6, 2015 (2015-01-06)
Needed to Win: Majority of the votes cast
408 votes cast, 205 needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Candidate John Boehner Nancy Pelosi
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat Ohio 8th California 12th
Members' vote 216 164
 
Candidate Others
Members' vote 28
Speaker before election

John Boehner
Republican

 Elected Speaker

John Boehner
Republican

Immediately after the election, the Dean of the United States House of Representatives, John Conyers, administered the oath of office to the speaker. Boehner in turn administered the oath of office en masse to the rest of the members of the House of Representatives.

Nominations

The House Republicans met on November 13, 2014 and unanimously renominated John Boehner for the Speakership of the House or Representatives. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Chair of the House Republican Conference, placed Boehner's name in nomination on January 6, 2015.

The House Democrats, who met on November 18, 2014, chose unopposed Nancy Pelosi through a voice vote as the Minority Leader as well as nominee for Speaker. Her name was placed in nomination on January 6, 2015 by Xavier Becerra, the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

January 6, 2015, after House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers nominated John Boehner and House Democratic Caucus Chair Xavier Becerra Nancy Pelosi for the office of the Speaker on behalf of their respective parties, three more names were placed in nominations by some of the Republican representatives. Ted Yoho of Florida was nominated by Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Louie Gohmert of Texas by Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma, and Dan Webster of Florida by Steve King of Iowa.

Results

The vote count in the January 6, 2015 speaker of the House election was:[3]

2015 election for Speaker (Regular) – 114th Congress[4]
* denotes incumbent
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican John Boehner* (OH 8) 216 52.95
Democratic Nancy Pelosi (CA 12) 164 40.20
Republican Dan Webster (FL 10) 12 2.95
Republican Louie Gohmert (TX 1) 3 0.74
Republican Ted Yoho (FL 3) 2 2.50
Republican Jim Jordan (OH 4) 2 0.50
Republican Jeff Duncan (SC 3) 1 0.24
Republican Rand Paul 1 0.24
Republican Colin Powell 1 0.24
Republican Trey Gowdy (SC 4) 1 0.24
Republican Kevin McCarthy (CA 23) 1 0.24
Democratic Jim Cooper (TN 5) 1 0.24
Democratic Peter DeFazio (OR 4) 1 0.24
Republican Jeff Sessions 1 0.24
Democratic John Lewis (GA 5) 1 0.24
Total votes 408 100
Votes necessary 205 >50

Representatives voting for someone other than their party's speaker nominee were:[3][5]
■ Rod Blum of Iowa; Scott Garrett of New Jersey; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Tim Huelskamp of Kansas; Walter Jones of North Carolina; Steve King of Iowa; Mark Meadows of North Carolina; Rich Nugent of Florida; Bill Posey of Florida; Scott Rigell of Virginia; Marlin Stutzman of Indiana; and Daniel Webster of Florida voted for Daniel Webster;
■ Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma; Louie Gohmert of Texas; and Randy Weber of Texas voted for Louie Gohmert;
■ Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ted Yoho of Florida voted for Ted Yoho;
■ Justin Amash of Michigan and Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee voted for Jim Jordan;
■ Gwen Graham of Florida voted for Jim Cooper;
■ Dan Lipinski of Illinois voted for Peter DeFazio;
■ Dave Brat of Virginia voted for Jeff Duncan;
■ Jeff Duncan of South Carolina voted for Trey Gowdy;
■ Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona voted for John Lewis;
■ Chris Gibson of New York voted for Kevin McCarthy;
■ Curt Clawson of Florida voted for Rand Paul, who was not a member of the House at the time;
■ Gary Palmer of Alabama voted for Jeff Sessions, who was not a member of the House at the time;
■ Jim Cooper of Tennessee voted for Colin Powell, who was not a member of the House at the time.

On the day of the election, January 6, there were a total of 434 representatives in office, Michael Grimm of New York having resigned from his seat, and Boehner would have needed at least 218 votes to win had all of them voted. However, 26 representatives did not participate in the voting, including 13 New York Democrats who attended the funeral of the late former New York Governor Mario Cuomo that day. As a result, the number of votes necessary for a majority was lower, 205 rather than 218.[3]

References
  1. French, Lauren; Bresnahan, John (January 9, 2015). "How not to oust a speaker: House conservatives spent almost a year pondering a challenge to John Boehner but couldn't deliver". Politico. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  2. Walsh, Deirdre (January 6, 2015). "Boehner Overcomes Big Opposition to Remain Speaker". CNN. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  3. Heitshusen, Valerie; Beth, Richard S. (January 4, 2019). "Speakers of the House: Elections, 1913–2019" (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  4. "161 Cong. Rec. 29 (2015)" (PDF). Congressional Record. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  5. "161 Cong. Rec. 29–31 (2015)" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
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