As of Jan. 7, Kevin McCarthy is the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. It took him 15 rounds of voting to get here.

The last time that more than one round of voting was needed to elect the speaker was exactly 100 years ago, in 1923. This last occurrence was when Speaker Fredrick Gillet of Massachusetts was elected on the ninth vote.

The election in 1923 and this year are far from being the longest in United States history.

This title is reserved for the voting that began on Dec. 3, 1855 and lasted for approximately two months. There were 133 rounds of voting before Nathaniel “Bobbin Boy” P. Banks was elected as House speaker. 

But why did McCarthy have an issue being voted on the first try after an 100-year streak? There were at least 19 Republicans who voted for someone other than him. Oftentimes, members of the House stick to voting for their party’s nominee. For the 50 years following World War II, no stray votes were cast for anyone other than the two major-party nominees. Since 1997, there have been several occasions where a few members voted “present” or for someone other than their party nominee. But as the 100-year streak shows, never once had this prohibited a nominee from being elected. Until, of course, the 19 votes across party lines caused McCarthy to not get enough votes and no one else to have enough to win either.

McCarthy did win in the end, so why does it matter that it took so long? Well to start, it’s a historical moment. The 15 rounds of voting put the 118th Congress to number five on the rankings of the most rounds of voting out of all House speaker elections that needed more than one round of voting. The 118th Congress sits in the middle of a swathe of Congresses from the 1800s. And, of course, the aforementioned 100-year streak was set back to zero. 

But other than historical events, the voting length was important for other reasons. For one, no members of the House can be sworn in until there is a House speaker. So, until a speaker is selected, there are technically no members of the House. Since there are no members, no House business can be done. No legislation can be introduced or passed. In addition, there are no House rules to govern the House or to make committees. If the House rules aren’t finalized by Jan. 13, committees cannot process payroll or student loan repayments.

So, no speaker means no members, no rules, and none of the House being paid. The House also cannot investigate federal agencies or matters of public interest. Elected representatives cannot attend classified briefings needed to make informed decisions on policy. And the House would not be able to respond if there were a crisis, as it has done in the past by sending out relief packages for Hurricane Sandy and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Luckily, there is now a Speaker of The House of Representatives, but this moment in today’s history should not be forgotten, because it could’ve led to detrimental effects in the midst of a crisis or another two-month-long election.