NH House Republicans Select Bill O’Brien Speaker

Today, House Republicans met to nominate their choice for Speaker for the next session of the House.  Rep. Bill O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) was selected on the 2nd ballot, defeating Rep. Gene Chandler (R-Bartlet).

Newly-elected House Republicans today nominated Rep. William O’Brien of Mont Vernon as their candidate for Speaker of the House.

The nomination makes O’Brien’s rise to the Speaker’s post all but a certainty on Dec. 1.

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O’Brien had 142 votes to Rep. Gene Chandler’s 133 votes. The decision came on the second ballot of the afternoon. It took a simple majority of ballots cast to win the contest.

Republicans promised Sununu last week they would unite behind whoever won the GOP nomination. When O’Brien got the win, the party then voted to make it unanimous.

Following the election, House Republicans issued the following statement:

O’Brien Wins Republican Caucus, Will Become Next Speaker of NH House

The House Republican Caucus, who on November 2 took a historic edge in the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 298 members, today elected Rep. William O’Brien of Mont Vernon as their designee to become the Speaker of the House in the 162nd session of the NH General Court.

“I’m looking forward to working with Republicans and Democrats in the New Hampshire House to fulfill the mandate for a new direction that the people of New Hampshire voted for on November 2,” stated O’Brien, an attorney by trade and recently elected to his third term.

Rep. O’Brien, who campaigned on a platform of openness among the caucus, will be holding a caucus after the December 1 organization of the new House of Representatives to elect a majority leader.

Congrats to Speaker-designate O’Brien!