Danette O'Neal, PhD

A concerted effort to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner was under way the day of his re-election to the position, participants called it off 30 minutes before the House floor Vote. It was the work of small groups of Republican lawmakers who concluded independently that new leadership was needed in the speaker’s office.

A group of disaffected conservatives had agreed to vote against the Ohio lawmaker if they could get at least 25 members to join the effort. 1person rescinded his or her participation the morning of the vote, leaving the group one person short of its self-imposed 25-member threshold. Only 17 votes against Boehner were required to force a second ballot. After the plot was called off, those who had joined it were released and given the approval to vote however they liked, and roughly half of the group abstained or voted against Boehner. Each abstention actually lowered the amount of votes Boehner needed to win re-election, as winning the speakership requires garnering only a majority of those who voted, as opposed to a majority of sitting House members. (Rollcall; 1/6/13).