# House speaker position if the Dems lose their majority

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-position-if-the-dems-lose-their-majority/928303>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [December 18, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-position-if-the-dems-lose-their-majority/928303 "2020-12-18T01:20:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-position-if-the-dems-lose-their-majority/928303/41 "2020-12-20T03:36:07Z")

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> [@Falchion](#):
>
> The House declares the Speaker’s Office vacant and then the vacancy is filled (I assume) in the ordinary manner for vacancies. Presumably the majority party prevails in such election.

Nancy Pelosi would become legendary if she could pull off what Willie Brown did in the California State Assembly. In 1994, the Republicans won a majority (it happens, even in California). The Democratic Speaker, Willie Brown, kept his Speaker position!

> **[Willie Brown (politician)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Brown_(politician))**
>
> Willie Lewis Brown Jr. (born March 20, 1934) is an American retired politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, the first African American to hold that office.
> Born in Mineola, Texas, where he graduated from high school, Brown moved to San Francisco in 1951. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 1955 and earned a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1958, after which he worked as an attorne...

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-position-if-the-dems-lose-their-majority/928303/42 "2020-12-20T06:24:00Z")

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> [@flurb](#):
>
> Suffice it to say that I disagree that Republicans will blithely go along with Democrats seizing control of the Senate despite their being in the minority,

Blithely? No of course not. They can & will outvote the Dems. Only thing that will stop that is Biden’s knowledge and favors owed.

It is just that if Harris does this, _actual votes will go on the record._ Votes against the dems sure, most of the time.

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**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-position-if-the-dems-lose-their-majority/928303/43 "2020-12-20T13:05:19Z")

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> [@peccavi](#):
>
> Nancy Pelosi would become legendary if she could pull off what Willie Brown did in the California State Assembly. In 1994, the Republicans won a majority (it happens, even in California). The Democratic Speaker, Willie Brown, kept his Speaker position!

I’m not sure control of the House has ever switched in the middle of a Congress. Skimming [this list](https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/) it doesn’t look like it’s usually close enough. Although, it notes that in for the 72nd Congress, _fourteen_ members-elect died before taking office, which switched party control after the special elections to replace them.

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