# Speaker of the House 2019 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246 "2018-11-09T16:11:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/121 "2018-11-24T20:57:04Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > If she is the very effective Parliamentarian for managing your lower House and avoiding chaotic self-harming political gestures, if she can keep you focused on the strategic deployment of the tactics to destabilize and keep on his back foot the bigoted person who is your president, then you should keep her… > > It will take great focus and cleverness, and avoidance of political gestures that are too Left and provoke the center against you to be successful in ridding us all, the whole world of him. He is a danger. I agree, which is why we need the most experienced person at the Dem helm, and the person Trump is scared of. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/122 "2018-11-24T21:08:11Z")
Trump is a lot of things but I don’t think he’s scared of anyone. He thinks he’s a combination of God and Einstein. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/123 "2018-11-24T21:16:12Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I thought she was this great fundraiser which I think is related to elections is it not? Or does she raise all that money to buy milk and cookies for local kids? What does this have to do with the actual process of the winning? Does she control the spending of this money or is she just helping? If she is not controling the spending and how it is done specifically, it is a non-relevant observation to the question of the winning. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/124 "2018-11-24T23:46:17Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > There are 234.5 Democrats and 200.5 Republicans. If the vote is: > > 200 Republicans + 18 Democrats : Gabbard > 217 Democrats : Pelosi > > Then it will be Gabbard. Losing just 18 votes could kill Pelosi. It doesn’t take much, it just takes someone willing to use the Republicans to their own ends. > > Pelosi would fold and give in to the demands of the Problem Solvers’, I think. But they have to raise a candidate who could grab those free 200 votes. At the moment, they haven’t. And so they haven’t accomplished much, yet. So supposing the Republican coup succeeds and Gabbard wins. How are those 200 Republicans going to explain their vote to their primary voters come 2020 when thanks the the Right Wing Noise Machine Gabbard has become “the most vile liberal leftist socialist corrupt obstructionist politician in history”? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/125 "2018-11-25T01:25:50Z")
Right. It’s not just a one-time thing to screw the Dems and Pelosi, nyaah-nyaah! It’s a decision that has major implications for the next two years. Whoever is Speaker has tremendous control over the legislative agenda. Why would the Republicans vote for the most leftist candidate, thereby making it likely that the leftist agenda will be the one that the house is considering for the next two years. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/126 "2018-11-25T12:47:40Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Does the Speakership require a majority vote or only a plurality? > [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > A majority (of the votes cast) is required. If no candidate gets a majority, they vote again (and again…) until someone does. Specifically, a majority of those _who vote for a candidate_. Those absent, or only voting ‘present,’ don’t enter into the calculation. However, this is _tradition_. There is no law, no rule, that says this has to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/127 "2018-11-26T00:26:57Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > So supposing the Republican coup succeeds and Gabbard wins. How are those 200 Republicans going to explain their vote to their primary voters come 2020 when thanks the the Right Wing Noise Machine Gabbard has become “the most vile liberal leftist socialist corrupt obstructionist politician in history”? People don’t care. If the right letter is in front of the person’s name, that’s all that matters. And, I’ll note, that I expressly said that we would never get to this point. It’s a threat, not a prediction. But it is a threat that can’t be ignored. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/128 "2018-11-26T01:47:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Specifically, a majority of those _who vote for a candidate_. Those absent, or only voting ‘present,’ don’t enter into the calculation. > > However, this is _tradition_. There is no law, no rule, that says this has to be the case. I was floored to learn that the House rules have nothing to say about the process for electing a Speaker at the start of a congressional session. In a sense I guess this is inevitable – the Speaker is elected before they adopt rules. In fact this occurs before the Members are even sworn in! ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/129 "2018-11-28T21:52:45Z")
32 Dems voted against Pelosi and 3 ballots were blank. Guess she needs to find a lot more people who will take a "bribe . " > **[Democrats vote to nominate Nancy Pelosi for House speaker | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/28/politics/nancy-pelosi-house-democrat-leadership-elections-speakers-race/index.html)** > > House Democrats overwhelmingly picked Nancy Pelosi to be their nominee for House speaker on Wednesday, though she'll need to win over more than a dozen no votes in order to win with 218 members' support in the full floor vote in January. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/130 "2018-11-28T22:00:32Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > 32 Dems voted against Pelosi and 3 ballots were blank. > > Guess she needs to find a lot more people who will take a "bribe . " > > [https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/28/politics/nancy-pelosi-house-democrat-leadership-elections-speakers-race/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/28/politics/nancy-pelosi-house-democrat-leadership-elections-speakers-race/index.html) I think more than a few have already made the “I will vote against her in the party vote, but I will obviously not vote for the Republican” line. This line says it all: “In 2016, Pelosi lost 63 votes in the House Democratic Caucus when she ran for Democratic leader against Tim Ryan. Ultimately, however, just four voted against her on the floor in 2017.” ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/131 "2018-11-28T22:06:32Z")
there are other options other than voting for her or a GOP member. BTW I noticed the 3 top Dems in the house were all born prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. I guess they can’t find anyone under the age of 75 to help run things? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/132 "2018-11-28T22:10:44Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I think more than a few have already made the “I will vote against her in the party vote, but I will obviously not vote for the Republican” line. > > This line says it all: > “In 2016, Pelosi lost 63 votes in the House Democratic Caucus when she ran for Democratic leader against Tim Ryan. Ultimately, however, just four voted against her on the floor in 2017.” Yeah, if there’s only the one candidate, everyone who said that they would vote against her has a pretty strong out; what are they supposed to do, vote for the Invisible Pink Unicorn? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/133 "2018-11-28T22:51:37Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > there are other options other than voting for her or a GOP member. Like what? If they abstain, that lowers the majority threshold, essentially vote for the Republican. If the vote for a third person, then it would just be a revote over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/134 "2018-11-28T23:22:25Z")
if she can’t win on the 1st ballot or the 2nd then maybe she could drop out and the Dems could find another candidate -for example Tim Ryan of Ohio. But then again in DC quite a few people don’t give up power unless they are 6 feet under so it’s not likely that she would step aside while she’s still above ground. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/135 "2018-11-29T00:06:29Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I guess they can’t find anyone under the age of 75 to help run things? There’s a structural bias that favors age in the rules the Democratic caucus operates under. They use seniority to determine committee leadership. That confines some of the most relevant experience to leading the caucus as a whole to a small group that has been in Congress for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/136 "2018-11-29T00:07:53Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > there are other options other than voting for her or a GOP member. > > BTW I noticed the 3 top Dems in the house were all born prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. I guess they can’t find anyone under the age of 75 to help run things? Hakeem Jeffries is 48. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/137 "2018-11-29T00:09:20Z")
Apparently Pelosi has agreed to some form of future leadership apprentice program. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/138 "2018-11-29T01:35:09Z")
The New York Times [in 2015](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/politics/republicans-paul-ryan-house-speaker.html), on Paul Ryan’s 200-43 nomination to be the Speaker: He “won the overwhelming support of his colleagues in the nominating contest and is now set to be installed as speaker.” The New York Times [in 2018](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/us/politics/pelosi-democrat-speaker-nomination.html), on Nancy Pelosi’s 203-32 nomination: “The defection of 32 Democrats signaled that she could still face a divisive fight to lead the House just as the party assumes control.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/139 "2018-11-29T13:25:48Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Like what? If they abstain, that lowers the majority threshold, essentially vote for the Republican. Well, half a vote really. With 235 House Dems, Pelosi still wins the Speakership if 17 Dems vote for someone else. But she also wins the Speakership if 34 of them vote ‘present.’ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246/140 "2018-11-29T16:29:07Z")
Yeah, this is just the equivalent of a primary, not the general election. Sure, there are some Democratic reps who would prefer some other Democrat (but not very many, even of them). But how many would prefer a Republican? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaker-of-the-house-2019/824246.md?page=8)