January 3, 2027: How the New Congress Begins
Dated editorial analysis; figures in this article are not recalculated automatically. Visit the linked race pages for current data.
Members elected on November 3, 2026, take office when the 120th Congress convenes. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution sets the start of each new Congress at noon on January 3, unless Congress passes a law choosing a different day. Here is what normally happens on that first day and in the weeks that follow, and how the process differs between the two chambers.
Before January 3
- Certification. Each state certifies its official results on a schedule set by state law. The governor or another state official then sends a certificate of election to the House Clerk or the Secretary of the Senate. Unofficial results and news-media calls are not the same as certification; see what the canvass and certification steps mean.
- Party organizing. In November and December, each party's members-elect meet in caucuses or conferences to choose their leaders and nominees for Speaker. These are internal party votes, not official House or Senate votes.
- Orientation. New members attend orientation sessions, hire staff and receive office assignments, often through a lottery.
Day one in the House
The House is not a continuing body: every seat is filled anew, and the House must organize itself again at the start of each Congress. Until a Speaker is chosen, the Clerk of the House presides.
- Quorum call. Members-elect answer a roll call to establish that a quorum is present.
- Election of the Speaker. Members-elect vote aloud for a person by name. To win, a candidate needs a majority of the members voting for a named person, so the number needed can be lower than 218 if some members vote "present" or are absent. If no one wins a majority, the House votes again until someone does. In January 2023 it took 15 ballots over several days.
- Swearing-in. The newly elected Speaker takes the oath, then administers it to the members-elect as a group.
- Rules. The House adopts its rules for the new Congress, usually the previous Congress's rules with changes proposed by the majority party.
Until the Speaker is elected and members are sworn in, the House cannot pass legislation or conduct other business.
Day one in the Senate
The Senate is a continuing body: only about one-third of its seats are filled at each election, so it does not need to reorganize from scratch. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, administers the oath to newly elected and re-elected senators, who are escorted to the front of the chamber in small groups, usually by their state's other senator. The Senate also elects a president pro tempore, traditionally the longest-serving member of the majority party, who presides when the Vice President is absent.
Majority and minority leaders are chosen by each party's conference, not by the full Senate. When majority control changes, the parties negotiate a resolution setting how many seats each side holds on every committee, and committee chairs switch to members of the new majority.
Committees
Most of Congress's detailed work happens in committees. In both chambers, the majority party holds a majority of seats on each committee and all the chairmanships. Each party assigns its own members to committees through internal steering panels, and the full chamber then approves the assignments. This process can take several weeks into January.
What if a race is still undecided?
If a state has not certified a winner by January 3, that seat stays vacant until it does. The House or Senate can also decline to seat a member-elect while a contested election is resolved, although this is rare. A few 2026 races were still uncalled more than a week after Election Day; see the closest races page for their status and the state rules that apply.
Procedures described here follow the Constitution, current House and Senate rules, and past practice. Each chamber can change its rules, and the details for 2027 will be set when the new Congress convenes.