LIVE COVERAGE: House votes to name Speaker

Pelosi hits 216

4:27 p.m.

The final gavel hasn’t been called, but Pelosi will be the next Speaker. She’s up to 216 votes after a number of members who were missed the first time their names were called voted.

The votes included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has 209 votes.

— Ian Swanson

Three Democrats vote ‘present’

3:55 p.m.

Democratic Reps. Mikie Sherrill (N.J.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Abigail Spanberger (Va.) each voted “present.” 

Sherrill and Spanberger voted for Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) for Speaker two years ago, while Slotkin also voted “present” at the time.

– Cristina Marcos

Second Democrat defects from Pelosi

3:17 p.m.

Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), who voted for former Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) in 2019, cast his vote for House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

He’s the second Democrat to break from his party so far.

— Juliegrace Brufke

Pelosi sees first Democratic defection

2:55 p.m.

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was the first in his party to cast a vote against Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), voting for Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-lll) instead. 

This is Golden’s second vote against Pelosi for speaker. Two years ago he voted for Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), then the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair, for Speaker two years ago.

– Juliegrace Brufke

Rep. Moore defends appearing in Capitol despite lack of negative COVID-19 test

2:40 p.m.

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), who announced last week that she tested positive for COVID-19, maintained on Sunday that she received clearance from the Capitol physician to cast floor votes.

But when asked by a reporter if she had tested negative, Moore acknowledged, “I didn’t get a negative test.”

Moore said that she was cleared by the Capitol’s attending physician, Brian Monahan, to be in the Capitol and had quarantined for two weeks. 

House Democrats established rules changes in May to allow lawmakers to cast votes by proxy if they cannot be physically present in the House chamber due to being sick with COVID-19 or having to quarantine. But lawmakers are temporarily unable to vote remotely until the House votes to adopt a new rules package for the new session of Congress.

The vote on the rules package, which will continue to authorize proxy voting, isn’t expected until Monday. That means House members must until then be physically present in order to cast votes.

Monahan also approved the use of a plexiglass enclosure in the visitor’s gallery in the House chamber to allow three lawmakers who are supposed to be quarantining to vote on Sunday. But the enclosure does not have a top and is not fully sealed.

– Cristina Marcos

Pelosi, McCarthy formally nominated for Speaker

2:10 p.m.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) officially nominated Pelosi for Speaker on the House floor.

House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) then nominated Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. 

As she started her remarks, Cheney paid tribute to GOP Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (La.) who died last week and Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin’s son, Thomas who also passed away in recent days. 

— Juliegrace Brufke

Slotkin defends voting ‘present’ on Speaker vote

1:32 p.m.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who represents a district that President Trump carried in 2016, said Sunday that she once again will not support Pelosi for Speaker.

Slotkin will vote “present” just as she did two years ago instead of voting for Pelosi.

“I’m not supporting the Speaker. I’ll be voting present, because no one stepped up to run against her. It’s a commitment that I made in March of 2018 before I was elected,” Slotkin told reporters in the Capitol.

Slotkin said that she gave Pelosi a heads up directly about her decision to vote “present,” despite the razor-thin margin in Sunday’s vote due to COVID-19 related absences and Democrats’ historically thin majority.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about the need for more Midwestern leaders, people who represent areas like where I’m from. And also I think it’s important to be training a next generation of leaders, right? As just a healthy habit of building the bench. So I was upfront with her. We had a one-on-one conversation right after the election, just as we did back in 2018. And I’m going to vote to live up to that commitment to my district,” Slotkin said.

Slotkin was among 15 moderate Democrats who didn’t vote for Pelosi for Speaker two years ago. But Pelosi has since won over some of those defectors, including Reps. Jim Cooper (Tenn.) and Kurt Schrader (Ore.).

— Cristina Marcos

GOP attacks Dems for allowing Moore to vote after positive COVID test

1:00 p.m.

House Republicans are attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats after Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) tested positive for COVID-19 but arrived at the Capitol on Sunday in order to cast her vote for Speaker.

“Pelosi is putting the public’s health at risk to keep herself in power,” tweeted conservative Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).

“Looks like @SpeakerPelosi’s proxy voting and remote hearing measures are only essential when her leadership position isn’t on the line,” Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) added in a separate tweet.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it was “wrong” for Democrats to allow Moore to vote Sunday so soon after her diagnosis.

Because of Democrats’ narrow margins, Pelosi can only afford a handful of defections from Democratic rank-and-file members to retain the Speaker’s gavel another two years. That explains why she may have needed Moore, a Pelosi ally, to fly to Washington to cast her vote.

Proxy or remote voting is not allowed for the Speaker vote because the rules for the new 117th Congress, governing that process, won’t happen until Monday.

Moore announced she had tested positive on Dec. 28. But in a tweet Sunday, she said she had completed her quarantine and is “medically cleared to travel and work on behalf of Wisconsin’s Fourth Congressional District.”

Revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines state that quarantines after a positive test can be cut to seven or 10 days. 

— Scott Wong

Kind doesn’t say whether he’ll again oppose Pelosi

12:30 p.m.

Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), a former chairman of the moderate New Democrat Coalition who has supported a change in party leadership, declined to say Sunday afternoon if he would oppose Pelosi on the floor, as he had done two years ago.

Asked if he would disclose how he’ll vote in the Speaker’s race, Kind said, “I will in about an hour, when I’m voting.”

Kind was one of 15 Democrats to oppose Pelosi’s Speakership bid in 2019, when he voted instead for Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon who passed away in July.

— Mike Lillis

GOP incoming Republicans to miss vote

12:22 p.m.

Two incoming Republican representatives, David Valadeo (Calif.) and Maria Elvia Salazar (Fla.), who recently tested positive for coronavirus, are not expected to be present for the Speaker’s vote, one GOP aide confirmed to The Hill.

The absences could give Democrats a little more room in getting the votes to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for Speaker given some expected defections on their side.

— Juliegrace Brufke

Moore to attend vote for Speaker

12:06 p.m.

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), who announced she tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 28, is slated to be present at the Capitol on Sunday for the Speaker’s vote.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those who test positive or have been exposed to the virus quarantine for at least seven to 10 days, Moore’s office told Punchbowl News she “has worked with doctors and is safe to travel.”

“I tested positive for COVID-19. I am following guidance from my doctor and am isolating from others. I am thankful to be feeling well. And I do not foresee this disrupting my work for Wisconsin’s Fourth,” she tweeted following her diagnosis in late-December.

— Juliegrace Brufke

House to vote on Speaker

10:38 a.m.

The House on Sunday will vote to name its Speaker, an event that almost certainly will end with another term for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) but that could provide a bit of drama for the start of the 117th Congress.

The rare Sunday vote, to begin at 2:30 p.m. EST, will extend Pelosi’s historic reign; she is the first female Speaker twice over and has led the Democrats for nearly two decades.

But she can afford few defections on Sunday from within her restive caucus, and several Democrats have either vowed to oppose her or declined to reveal how they intend to vote.

Following the Democrats’ mauling at the polls in November, they hold a razor-thin majority over the Republicans — 222 seats to 211 — heading into the new Congress, creating a tricky math problem for Pelosi, who needs the support of at least half of the lawmakers voting Sunday on the chamber floor.

Complicating the equation for the 80-year-old Pelosi has been the coronavirus pandemic, which has sickened at least two of her supporters — Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) — in the final days of December.

Larsen is expected to vote on Sunday, while it’s less clear if Moore, who tested positive more recently, will participate.

Pelosi is running unopposed, however, and enjoys overwhelming support from her caucus, despite internal divisions and a difficult election cycle that saw Republicans pick up at least 13 seats.

In a letter to her caucus Sunday morning, Pelosi was confident that she has the Speaker vote wrapped up.

“I am confident that the Speaker’s election today will show a united Democratic Caucus ready to meet the challenges ahead, and that we are prepared to set our country on a new course, starting with the Electoral College meeting on Wednesday,” she wrote.

— Mike Lillis