Congress has been here before, when it took Republicans nearly a week and 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker in 2023, a spectacle unseen in modern times. McCarthy was then dumped by his party, a historic first, but he was also part of a long list of GOP speakers chased to early exits.

Republican Mike Johnson was reelected House speaker on Friday, narrowly winning a showdown with his party's right-flank after a last-minute assist from President-elect Donald Trump. Johnson was handed the gavel after a dramatic vote that saw the Louisiana native on track to lose on the first ballot minutes before two Republican lawmakers approached the desk and changed their stance following what one called a "lively discussion" with Trump.