But in the 2305's section on Parties and Committees in Congress, mention is made of the party leadership structure so this illustrates that point. For now, its best to understand this - the House Majority leader is the second highest position in the majority party in the House of Representatives. It's #2 because the leader of the party is nominated by the party to be Speaker of the House when it convenes after each election. Since the majority party is the majority, they get to select the Speaker.
So what happened earlier this week was that the primary voters in Virginia's 7th District defeated the second most power Republican in the House by not renominating him for the general election. That has never happened before in American history.
Here are a few links for further info about the position of House majority leader, and of leadership in the House in general.
- Wikipedia: Majority Leader.
- Wikipedia: Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives.
- NCSL: Roles and Responsibilities of Selected Leadership Positions.
- US House: majorityleader.gov.
- US House: Majority Leaders of the House (1899 to present).
I want to call special attention to this report from the Congressional Research Service:
- The Role of the House Majority Leader: An Overview.
Here are the opening two paragraphs from the report:
The majority leader in the contemporary House is second-in-command behind
the Speaker of the majority party. Typically, the majority leader functions as the
Speaker’s chief lieutenant or “field commander” for day-to-day management of the
floor. Although the majority leader’s duties are not especially well-defined, they
have evolved to the point where it is possible to spotlight two fundamental and often
interlocking responsibilities that orient the majority leader’s work: institutional and
party.
From an institutional perspective, the majority leader has a number of duties.
Scheduling floor business is a prime responsibility of the majority leader. Although
scheduling the House’s business is a collective activity of the majority party, the
majority leader has a large say in shaping the chamber’s overall agenda and in
determining when, whether, how, or in what order legislation is taken up. In
addition, the majority leader is active in constructing winning coalitions for the
party’s legislative priorities; acting as a public spokesman — defending and
explaining the party’s program and agenda; serving as an emissary to the White
House, especially when the President is of the same party; and facilitating the orderly
conduct of the House’s business.
