• Update, January 7, 2022 – McCarthy elected House speaker after historic battle with GOP rebels

“The House has a webpage devoted to its history titled History, Art & Archives. “This site is a collaborative project between the Office of the Historian and the Clerk of the House’s Office of Art and Archives. Together, the offices serve as the House’s institutional memory, a resource for Members, staff, and the general public…There is a page devoted to those speakers who had multiple ballots.” [Via Ben Amata, Librarian, California State University Sacramento]

• Note – “Thirteen of 14 multiple-ballot elections occurred before the Civil War, when party divisions were more nebulous. The last time a Speaker election required two or more votes on the floor happened in 1923.” Kevin McCarthy has made the worst kind of history.
• See also Axios – “The big picture: Even if McCarthy gets through this somehow, he will be at the mercy of these rebels when it comes to getting anything done — including must-pass legislation like raising the debt ceiling. With the full faith and credit of the United States on the line, House Republicans’ game of chicken suddenly gets a lot more serious than one man’s political career.”
• See also Axios – “The incoming Republican majority in the House of Representatives removed metal detectors outside of the chamber floor on Tuesday, just three days before the second anniversary of the deadly Jan. 6 riot.”
• Update via Axios – “House speakership vote in marathon mode with McCarthy on track to lose 5th bid. Driving the news: The GOP conference remains in limbo, and a sixth vote is possible Wednesday.”