Leaders — how the Speaker and party leaders are chosen

At the start of each Congress, and when the post falls vacant, the House elects its Speaker by roll call. Each party’s conference usually nominates a candidate, and members normally vote for their own party’s, but they may vote for anyone. The Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a member, but every Speaker has been.

A candidate needs a majority of the votes cast for a person by name. Members who answer “present” or are absent lower the number needed. If no one gets there, the House votes again until someone does: it took nine ballots in 1923, 15 in January 2023 and four in October 2023.

In the House, the majority party’s caucus or conference elects the majority leader by secret ballot before each new Congress begins, and the majority leader schedules the bills that reach the floor. Senate floor leaders are elected by their party’s senators at the start of each Congress. The Constitution does not create these posts.

When several senators seek to speak at once, the presiding officer calls first on the majority leader, then on the minority leader, then on the managers of the bill being debated.

The Vice President is President of the Senate and votes only to break a tie. The Senate elects a president pro tempore to preside in the Vice President’s absence; since the mid-20th century that has been the most senior senator of the majority party.