The House of Representatives has been without a speaker for nearly three weeks, but an extended vacancy in the speaker's chair is not unprecedented.
The longest speakership vacancy the House has ever faced was in the 1850s when the speaker election at the beginning of the 34th Congress went to 133 ballots. Massachusetts Rep. Nathaniel Banks of the American Party was elected 103-100 over Rep. William Aiken on the final ballot after Banks had only received 21 votes on the first ballot. The 61-day vacancy is the longest the House of Representatives has not had an elected speaker over the chamber.Four years after the longest vacancy, the speaker election at the beginning of the 36th Congress came close to breaking the 61-day record for a vacancy in the House speakership.
The 58-day vacancy remains one of the longest in the history of the chamber, and far ahead of the third longest vacancy.The third longest vacancy the House speakership has ever seen was in December 1849, when the House of Representatives went 63 ballots before electing a speaker.