2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

Winning the Speakership in the House of Representatives in the United States Congress can happen if an individual can gain a majority (218 votes) of the votes from other representatives. This can be simple, but in 1923, it took 9 votes to elect Frederick H. Gillett [en]. It was 100 years later that in 2023, it took 15 votes to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. It took multiple votes because the Republicans were split on who they wanted to be speaker. A majority of Republicans were okay with Rep. McCarthy, but some wanted other people, such as Jim Jordan, Bryan Donalds [en], Jim Banks, Hakeem Jeffries, and even Ex-President Donald Trump. But after 15 votes, Far-Right Republicans voted for Rep. McCarthy after he promised them a lot more power in Congress.