https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2020/12/27/heres-how-a-republican-could-end-up-speaker-of-the-house-instead-of-nancy-pelosi-n1287467
This means that candidates for speaker of the House must receive a majority of the votes cast in person to be elected speaker. Democrats already have a thin majority of 222 seats following the 2020 election, and three moderate Democrats say they don’t intend to vote for Pelosi when the vote takes place on January 3. In addition, several Democrats have health conditions that have kept them from the Capitol in 2020. It would only take a small number of Democrats being exposed to COVID-19 prior to the vote for Pelosi to potentially be in trouble.
“COVID is a wild card,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). “If we have sick members who cannot come back, and we only have a four-vote majority, it throws our entire advent of the 117th Congress in peril — a smooth advent.”
Fifty-six percent of voters think Pelosi should not be reelected as speaker. Only 31 percent of voters support her.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) believes it’s a real possibility that Republicans could outnumber Democrats for the vote, and the top Republican in the House, Kevin McCarthy, could be elected speaker.
“Let’s say, just theoretically, we had six or eight people out with COVID and the Republicans have none. They probably could elect McCarthy,” Yarmuth told The Hill.
A House Democrat and Pelosi ally who spoke anonymously with The Hill doesn’t deny that a COVID outbreak could sink Pelosi’s chances.