List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives (LandonExists)

Note: Because there are a lot of them this list will only cover speakers starting in 2000.

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. The speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House, and is simultaneously the body's presiding officer, the de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various administrative and procedural functions, all in addition to representing their own congressional district. 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. Neither does the speaker regularly participate in floor debates. Additionally, the speaker is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president and ahead of the president pro tempore of the Senate.

The House elects a new speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes after a general election for its two-year term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. A majority of votes cast (as opposed to a majority of the full membership of the House) is necessary to elect a speaker. If no candidate receives a majority vote, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected. The Constitution does not require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House, although every speaker thus far has been.

The current speaker of the House, Republican Elise Stefanik of New York, was elected to a first term in office on January 3, 2039, the first day of the 126th Congress. She is the second woman to have served as speaker, along with Nancy Pelosi of California. Altogether, 57 individuals, from 23 of the 52 states, have served as speaker of the House. The number from each state are:


 * Eight: Massachusetts;
 * Four: Kentucky, New York, Virginia;
 * Three: Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas;
 * Two: California, Maine, New Jersey, and South Carolina;
 * One: Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Washington and Wisconsin;

One speaker, James K. Polk, subsequently served as President of the United States, the only one to serve in both offices, and two speakers, Schuyler Colfax and John Nance Garner, later became Vice president. The longest serving speaker was Sam Rayburn – 17 years, 53 days. Elected 10 times, he led the House three times: from September 1940 to January 1947; January 1949 to January 1953; and January 1955 to November 1961. Kevin McCarthy had the longest uninterrupted tenure as speaker – 12 years. Elected six times, he led the House from January 2023 to January 2035. Theodore M. Pomeroy had the shortest tenure; elected speaker on March 3, 1869, he served one day.

List of speakers
The House has elected a speaker 135 times since 1789: at the start of each of the 126 congresses, plus on 10 occasions when a vacancy arose during a Congress via death or resignation. Of the 57 people who have served as speaker of the House over the past 250 years, 35 served multiple terms, and seven of them served nonconsecutive terms: Frederick Muhlenberg, Henry Clay, John W. Taylor, Thomas Brackett Reed, Joseph W. Martin Jr., Sam Rayburn and Nancy Pelosi. Altogether, there have been 66 occasions on which a new speaker took office.

As of January 2039 there are two living former speakers of the House: Paul Ryan and Hakeem Jeffries.