The Speaker of the House of Representatives is second in line of succession to the Presidency under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.
Sadly, under Republican majority leadership periods, the Speakership has been going steadily downhill in competence, accomplishments, and even common decency.
In the past thirty years since the Republican “Revolution” in the midterm elections of 1994 under President Bill Clinton, we have had now six Republican Speakers, and only one Democratic Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who was a true star and extremely accomplished leader from 2007-2011 and 2019-2023.
The rest of those years, we have had one disaster after another from the following chronological list of Republican Speakers:
Newt Gingrich 1995-1999
Dennis Hastert 1999-2007
John Boehner 2011-October 2015
Paul Ryan October 2015-2019
Kevin McCarthy January 2023-October 2023
Mike Johnson October 2023-Present
Each one was horrendous and divisive, but Mike Johnson seems to have lowered the reputation of the office ever further.
Hopefully, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader will ascend to the Speakership in January 2025!