The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section II, of the U.S. Constitution. By custom and House rules, the speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House and is simultaneously its presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates—that duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party—nor regularly participate in floor debates.
George Miller III is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state's 7th congressional district until redistricting in 2013 and 11th congressional district until his retirement. Miller served as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee from 1991 to 1995 and Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee from 2007 until 2011.
Anna A. Eshoo is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from California's 16th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 18th district from 2013 to 2023, is based in Silicon Valley, including the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto, as well as part of San Jose. Eshoo is the only Assyrian-American in Congress and the only Armenian American woman in Congress. On November 21, 2023, she announced she would not seek re-election in 2024.
Susan Ellen "Zoe" Lofgren is an American politician and lawyer serving as a U.S. representative from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Lofgren is in her 15th term in Congress, having been first elected in 1994. Lofgren has long served on the House Judiciary Committee, and chaired the House Administration Committee in the 116th and 117th Congresses.
Adam Bennett Schiff is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, Schiff served 12 terms in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2024 and was a member of the California State Senate from 1996 to 2000.
John Andrew Boehner is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 8th congressional district from 1991 to 2015. The district included several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton.
James A. Gallagher was an American banker, businessman, and Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
Ann Leila Kirkpatrick is an American politician and retired attorney who served as the U.S. representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Arizona's 1st congressional district from 2009 to 2011, and again from 2013 to 2017. Kirkpatrick was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2005 to 2007.
Women have served in the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United States Congress, since 1917 following the election of Republican Jeannette Rankin from Montana, the first woman in Congress. In total, 378 women have been U.S. representatives and seven more have been non-voting delegates. As of November 12, 2024, there are 127 women in the U.S. House of Representatives, making women 29.2% of the total. Of the 385 women who have served in the House, 253 have been Democrats and 132 have been Republicans. One woman was the 52nd Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California.
Electoral history of Gerald Ford, who served as the 38th president of the United States (1974–1977), the 40th vice president (1973–1974); and as a United States representative from Michigan (1949–1973).
Electoral history of Paul Ryan, United States Representative from Wisconsin (1999-2019), 2012 Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States, and Speaker of the House of Representatives (2015-2019). Throughout his career, Paul Ryan had never lost an election other than his defeat in the 2012 United States presidential election; of all the times he has won, he has never received less than 54% of the vote.
Frederick B. Keller is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district from 2019 to 2023. He was a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 85th district from 2011 until his resignation in May 2019 following election to the U.S. House.
Joseph D. Neguse is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Colorado's 2nd congressional district since 2019. The district is based in Boulder and includes many of Denver's northwestern suburbs, as well as Fort Collins. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a regent of the University of Colorado from 2008 to 2015. Neguse is the first Eritrean-American elected to the United States Congress and Colorado's first black member of Congress. Neguse has served as House assistant Democratic leader since 2024.
On January 6, 2015, the first day of the 114th United States Congress and two months after the 2014 U.S. House elections, the incoming House members held an election for its speaker. This was the 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.
On January 3, 2017, the first day of the 115th United States Congress and two months after the 2016 U.S. House elections, the incoming members of the U.S. House of Representatives held an election for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. This was the 125th U.S. speaker election since the office was created in 1789.
This is the electoral history of Newt Gingrich. Gingrich, a Republican, served as the 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until his resignation in November 1998. He represented Georgia's 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1979 until his resignation in January 1999. In 2012, Gingrich was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination.
On January 3, 2019, the first day of the 116th United States Congress and two months after the 2018 U.S. House elections, the incoming members of the U.S. House of Representatives held an election for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. This was the 126th U.S. speaker election since the office was created in 1789.
Kevin McCarthy is a United States representative from California and the former speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Before entering electoral politics, he served on the staff of Congressman Bill Thomas and was chair of the Young Republican National Federation between 1999 and 2001. He won his first election in 2000, being elected to represent Area 3 of the Kern Community College District Board of Trustees, and would later go on to be elected to the California State Assembly in 2002 and the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.
On January 5, 2011, the first convening of the United States House of Representatives during the 112th United States Congress, and two months after the 2010 U.S. House elections, the incoming House members held an election for its speaker. This was 121st speaker election since the office was created in 1789. Since House Republicans had gained the previously-Democrat-held majority in the 2010 elections, Republican House Leader John Boehner unseated Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi as speaker.
