# What the House Speaker Does and How the Caucus Chooses a Speaker - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2119614806512763189 - Source account: [@MsWinterrrr](https://x.com/MsWinterrrr) - Source language: English - Duration: 4:27 - Published: 2026-11-09 - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker) Television. The speaker's job, it is... [0:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=5) I'm trying to-- I have to write this backwards for y'all. [0:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=8) The speaker's job is legislative and it is political. [0:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=13) Someone told me to use letters, so I thank you for the tip, because I can write one letter individually. [0:19](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=19) So the speaker's job is both legislative and political. [0:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=26) The legislative, uh, responsibilities of the speakership is to have a whip operation. [0:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=37) A whip operation means both knowing how all of your members are going to vote, uh, on a given bill, and if you know how all of your members are going to vote, then you know what bills will have a majority of your caucus. [0:56](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=56) So you know which bills have the numbers to pass before you bring it to the floor, and you know which bills do not have the numbers to pass before you bring it to the floor. [1:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=63) So the legislative responsibilities of the speaker involves a whip operation, and sometimes that also means wrangling all and convincing all of your members, which the Democratic caucus has a broad ideology. We know this. [1:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=78) There are, there are left members of Congress, there are progressive members of Congr-Congress, there are moderate members, there are conservative members of the Democratic caucus. [1:29](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=89) So, so you have to organize this whole legislative and whip operation, and then your other job is political. [1:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=97) And your political job is about keeping your majority. [1:46](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=106) And there are always tons of political debates about what positions will either help Democrats win a majority, uh, or keep their majority. [1:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=118) But as, as the speaker, your primary job is to do this, and the extension of that political job is fundraising. [2:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=127) And so when members are electing a speaker, because the speakership, the speaker is not elected by popular vote of people. [2:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=142) The speaker is elected by the members of Congress that have been elected. [2:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=148) In that election, although, and I said this during my stories, which is what prompted this live, that election you may have seen a version of it happen on television on the house floor, but it actually, the real election happens before then, [2:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=165) and it happens behind closed doors via a secret ballot. [2:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=170) And this is what I was communicating to some of you all on Instagram stories. [2:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=175) It happens via a secret ballot and a caucus vote. [3:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=180) And that ballot, some like, you know, some people say, "Why is it a secret ballot?" Et cetera. [3:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=187) The speaker is also not the only person that is elected this way. [3:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=192) Every committee chair... Democratic leadership is actually like a dozen people, depending on what you count as leadership, but there are things known as formal leadership positions. [3:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=205) There's a speaker, there's the leader, there's the whip, there's the caucus chair, then there are committee chairs. [3:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=213) All of these are elected and contested elections are secret ballot. [3:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=217) And that ballot when you vote is not this person's name, yes or no. [3:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=227) That's not how this ballot looks. This ballot looks like this. [3:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=232) Let me see. The ballot looks like this. [3:57](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=237) This person's name, you either vote for it. [4:01](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=241) Kind of like your ballot when you're voting at the polls. [4:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=245) When you vote at the polls, the ba-- your ballot doesn't look like Greg Abbott, yes or no. [4:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=252) Your ballot looks like Greg Abbott or Gina Hinojosa, and you have to select who you want your candidate to be. [4:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ZkG1CW4TOORQ/en/what-the-house-speaker-does-and-how-the-caucus-chooses-a-speaker?t=263) It's the same thing with an internal caucus election.