Can Justin Amash actually run for speaker of the House?
by Virginia Aabram, Congressional Reporter
November 27, 2022 05:00 AM
There's been some chatter over the past year from some quarters of the House GOP about making an outsider speaker when Republicans assume the majority in the new Congress, prompting the question: Can they even do that?
Earlier this year, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pledged to nominate former President Donald Trump to lead the chamber, and last week, former Rep. Justin Amash offered himself up as a candidate, promising to be a "nonpartisan" speaker if front-runner Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) fails to secure enough votes from the GOP conference in January.
The short answer is that it is possible, constitutionally speaking, to run for the speakership even if you are not a member of the House, but your chances of winning are slim to none.
Whoever becomes speaker in the new Republican-led House in January, whether it's current Minority Leader McCarthy or someone else in an upset victory, they will likely be a member of the body — they just technically aren't required to be.
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The Constitution simply says the "House of Representatives shall [choose] their Speaker and other Officers," making no mention of the qualifications of these officers. Historically, every speaker has been selected from within the chamber, though random outsiders may receive a few votes from detractors unwilling to vote for the leading candidate. For example, during the 2019 speakership vote in which Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected, two people voted for Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), one for now-President Joe Biden, and one for former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
In March, Gaetz said at a Florida rally he wanted Republicans to "fire Nancy Pelosi, take back the majority, impeach Joe Biden, and I am going to nominate Donald Trump for speaker of the United States House of Representatives.” He initially floated the idea of a "Speaker" Trump the year before.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/speaker-of-house-does-not-have-to-be-member
