# Who is missing 435th speaker vote? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691 "2023-01-05T02:42:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/1 "2023-01-05T02:42:50Z")
Been flipping through all the cable news channels, and none of them have explained why there is only 434 votes being cast? Maybe a case of wrong channel at the wrong time. There are 435 US Representatives, but each vote has totaled 434. The last vote was: ## 212 Jeffries 201 McCarthy 20 Donalds 1 Present 434 votes ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/2 "2023-01-05T02:44:19Z")
[McEachin](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/11/28/politics/donald-mceachin-virginia-congressman-dies/index.html), I believe. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/3 "2023-01-05T02:54:18Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/4 "2023-01-05T03:15:23Z")
Note that having one vacant seat does not change the number of votes needed to elect a Speaker. It requires a majority of voting members to elect the Speaker, and (assuming all members vote) that requires 218 votes whether you have 434 or 435 Representatives. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/5 "2023-01-05T04:27:01Z")
Why aren’t the republicans throwing these rebels out ?? Ordinarily such rebellion results in them being ejected from their party… Here we have some votes declared by the party leader to be “matters of conscience”, not a compulsory part of the party platform… so the party members can vote anyway they want in the house … no matter what the caucus vote was. But here,there is something the 20 will do if they are excluded from the Republican Party…so the Republicans really can’t throw them out. The struggle here is that when they go to vote on nominees in the backrooms, in the Republican caucus meetings, its a two horse race, and hey get McCarthy voted for so the 201 tell the 20, well its going to be McCarthy, but out in congress, the 20 again nominate and vote for Donalds… splitting the Republican vote, the votes in the causus meetings don’t matter on the floor of Congress… The 20 may be thinking that if the right wing nominee doesn’t get in, the Republicans should pragmatically accept a centralist nominee… While the right wing idea is “might is enough” and think that its pragmatic that the republican nominee with the highest number of votes should get in. Maybe the 20 can force Trump be impeached? Thats what they need to stop rebelling ? And if they are thrown out of the Republican Party, they can then act with the democrats … Impeachment. So thats why they aren’t being thrown out ? ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/6 "2023-01-05T04:43:36Z")
Kicking them out of the party would accomplish nothing. They’d still be Representatives-elect, entitled to vote for speaker. Getting elected speaker requires a majority vote (not just getting more votes than anybody else). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/7 "2023-01-05T04:49:54Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > The 20 may be thinking that if the right wing nominee doesn’t get in, the Republicans should pragmatically accept a centralist nominee… Have you looked at who’s in the 20? They’re all far-right, many of them in the Freedom Caucus, and many of them are election deniers. They’re less interested in governing than they are in getting publicity and appearing in the media. They aren’t any more likely to support a “centrist nominee,” and they certainly aren’t going to support another impeachment of Trump. > **[How Far Right Are the 20 Republicans Who Voted Against McCarthy?](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-republicans-vote-against-mccarthy.html)** > > Most denied the 2020 election, are members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, or both. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/8 "2023-01-05T04:57:15Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Note that having one vacant seat does not change the number of votes needed to elect a Speaker. It requires a majority of voting members to elect the Speaker, and (assuming all members vote) that requires 218 votes whether you have 434 or 435 Representatives. Yes, note one member on a vote voted “Present” which meant that vote did not count for the total. As a result, 433/2=216.5 meaning at that point only 217 votes were necessary. For some reason, they still failed to elect a speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/9 "2023-01-05T05:31:07Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Why aren’t the republicans throwing these rebels out ?? American political parties don’t really have a mechanism for kicking people out - a Republican is anybody who calls themselves one and can win a Republican primary. Cf. Donald Trump, who basically pulled a hostile takeover of the party by interjecting himself into the presidential primary and winning, or Bernie Sanders, who isn’t a Democrat at all and identifies himself as a socialist, but regularly runs for the Democratic nomination for Senate to prevent an establishment Democrat from challenging him in the general. The extent of the party’s ability to whip its members in Congress is through things like committee assignments, which are of little interest to most of these dissenters, especially as several of them (like MTG) have already been kicked out of the committees they were part of due to their continued batshit crazy public behavior. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/10 "2023-01-05T05:58:41Z")
Also note political reality. WIthout these 5 or 19 or 20 people, the republicans would be a minority to the Democrats (who repeatedly vote en bloc for their party’s leader, Jeffries. Which party is the speaker determines who is in charge of things like committee chairmen and member assignments, and other important details like the agenda - when bills would come to a vote. The 20 are betting the 201 will give in to them rather than keep the stalemate going indefinitely (where nothing gets done). They also refuse to let the winner be McCarthy, it seems, no matter what he offers in concessions. They are essentially playing the same role that you see in hardline fundamentalists in the Israeli Knesset, forcing their will on the majority because (they think) they can, there is no choice. At any time, the Democrats could mess things up by simply abstaining (say, 40 or more vote “Present”) and letting McCarthy win, but (a) they don’t want him either, and (b) this is very entertaining for the Democrats. And as some commentator mentioned, what does this sort of standoff imply for the prospect of future legislation that will be needed? ---
**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:** [January 5, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-missing-435th-speaker-vote/977691/11 "2023-01-05T23:23:50Z")
[Moderating] A reminder to all that this is Factual Questions. The main question has already been answered: There are only 434 because one died. Other factual questions are possible, such as what the various parties, factions, and individuals are able to do under the rules in play, so I’ll leave the thread open, but what anyone ought to do is not factual. There’s another very active thread in P&E on the Speaker-selection process; any such questions would fit very well there.