To be the Speaker of the House, the following requirements must be met:

• Age: The U.S. Constitution requires that Representatives be at least 25 years old.

• Citizenship: Representatives must have been a U.S. citizen for at least the past 7 years.

• Residency: Representatives must be a resident of the state (though not necessarily the district) that they want to represent.

The Constitution does not explicitly require the Speaker to be an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, although every Speaker thus far has been. All candidates for Speaker must be nominated by members of the House, but they don’t need to be elected lawmakers of the House. To be the next Speaker, a person needs a majority of the votes from House members who are present and voting. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of a new Congress by a majority of the Representatives-elect from candidates separately chosen by the majority- and minority-party caucuses.