4 longest House speaker elections in US history

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, January 05, 2023

Howell Cobb – 63 ballots

Howell Cobb (1815-1868), a former speaker of the House of Representatives who also served as governor of Georgia and as a general in the Confederate Army. | Public Domain

Rep. Howell Cobb of Georgia was elected speaker of the House after 63 ballots in 1849, being viewed as a “compromise candidate” between Southern members who sought to create a pro-slavery voting bloc and Northern states committed to Union.

While Cobb only served one term as speaker, leaving Congress to serve as governor of Georgia, he oversaw the passage of the Compromise of 1850, which among other things admitted California as a free state while making a stricter federal Fugitive Slave Act.

Cobb would later serve in the Buchanan administration before leaving the federal government in 1860 to join the secessionist cause, eventually serving as a general in the Confederate Army and surrendering to Union forces in April 1865.

In 1868, shortly before his death, President Andrew Johnson officially pardoned Cobb.