Speaker to POTUS: why is the path blocked

[Hnv1]

After some decades of following American politics I just realized how peculiar it is that only one speaker of the house became POTUS. Why is that? The speaker is one of the most powerful figures in US politics and early one might have been more powerful than presidents. Yet only went this path with Americans preferring governors and senators.

Why is that

[HillGoose]

I never realized there was a speaker who became POTUS lmao

[Lechasseur]

I'm not sure, but my guess is it's a combination of factors:
1) Speakers tend to be fairly old when they reach the office, and it seems like it's often more a question of seniority rather than picking the type of guy you'd want to lead your party through an election campaign
2) On top of that, they tend to not be known outside of political junkies circles and their districts before reaching the speakership, so they haven't managed to prove their electability beyond their district nor really make them well known enough before becoming speaker
3) The one speaker anytime in a relatively near past who seemed like he could have been a serious presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, blew it with his shenanigans

I may be wrong, but that is my impression

It tends to be VPs, Senators and Governors who get nominated for president because they're often younger and have managed to prove their electability at least to a certain extent to a large area.

[Lechasseur]

I never realized there was a speaker who became POTUS lmao

James Polk in 1844

[Del Tachi]

Because the Speaker of the House is the ultimate insider legislator, who is tasked with having to constantly triangulate the needs/desires of his party's membership.  They exist to cut deals and grease wheels, not lead. 

[Blue3]

They already have a lot of power, took a long time to get there usually, and can potentially serve longer than President.

[brucejoel99]

Congressional leaders are pretty hated so they tend to not be great options as presidential candidates. At the very least, they'd certainly face tough fights to be nominated & win.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

I wonder who would win if they were both running for President, Cocaine Mitch or Nancy Pelosi?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's the same reason you seldom see House members seriously run for President.  Governors are often term-limited and/or able to run without giving up their current office. Senators have the same luxury of running for President without risking their current office. So it's a high risk attempt, especially now that nominees are no longer selected at the conventions.  A Speaker already has a lot of power and has had ample opportunity to obtain political enemies, but little chance to demonstrate what voters typically consider to be Presidential aptitude.

To get a Speaker to rise to the Presidency, we'll probably need the following scenario. A young small State's governor is term-limited, but has no open or opposite party Senate seat to go after, so goes after a House seat and wins. After a decade or two in the House, the ex-Governor manages to be elected Speaker. That person then runs for President and wins.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

John Garner gave it up for less than a bucket of warm spit (the Vice Presidency).

[SWE]

It's an impossible job that makes everyone hate you. Same reason no NYC mayor has gone on to hold higher office.

[blueandred]

It should also be said that until the Progressive era, Speaker was probably a more powerful position than President, all things considered.

[AGA]

I wonder who would win if they were both running for President, Cocaine Mitch or Nancy Pelosi?

I'd imagine that that would be a very low turnout election.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I wonder who would win if they were both running for President, Cocaine Mitch or Nancy Pelosi?

I'd imagine that that would be a very low turnout election.

The Libertarians might have a chance if they nominated a decent candidate who wasn't a rejected major party has been.  (In other words, the Libertarian Party would still have no chance.)

[Grassroots]

Pelosi is universally unpopular and never will run.
Ryan never ran for some reason, which still boggles me.
Boehner was irrelevant and had no appeal.
Hastert was old and was never interested, nor did he have appeal.
Gingrich ran in 2012 and lost. I believe that if he ran in 2008 he could potentially have won the nomination, but in 2012 he was a little too much to swallow for many republicans.