Keeping the fight for the Speaker in the family was easier in some historical moments than others. The 1910s and 1920s were one of those difficult times, especially for the Republican Party which, on the one hand, was the nation’s majority party but, on the other, harbored tensions between conservative stalwarts and progressives. This progressive-conservative infighting famously erupted in the revolt against Speaker Joseph Cannon (R-IL) in 1910, but the damage done was to the power of the Speaker under the House rules, not against the firm hand of the Republican Caucus in keeping control over who would be Speaker.
The 1923 episode was another eruption of these tensions. Then, progressive Republicans demanded rules changes to share power more equally in the House. (Sound familiar?) The Republican leader, Frederick Gillett refused. The progressives stuck to their guns, and in the first ballot for the speakership, 20 Republicans voted for other candidates, leaving Gillett without a majority. Two days and eight more ballots later, Gillett capitulated. The progressives got their rules changes, and Gillett was elected Speaker with the support of 18 of the progressives.
This was all fine for the insurgents until the next Congress, which was a roaring national victory for traditional Republicanism. The new GOP Speaker, Nicholas Longworth (OH), no longer needing the support of progressive Republicans to hold onto power, punished them for their previous intransigence by stripping them of committee memberships and seniority.
After Longworth meted out very public punishment to the progressives in 1925, there were almost no party defections on the speakership vote for nearly 90 years. However, by 2010, the rise of the Tea Party movement began to bring this organizational cartel arrangement under stress, especially in the Republican Party.
Strains were particularly evident in 2013, when twelve Republicans refused to vote for John Boehner (OH), and in 2015, when 24 House Republicans defected. Boehner preempted a vote later in 2015 to “vacate the chair”—which was pressed by the House Freedom Caucus and other far-right Republicans—by quitting. Internal party divisions complicated selecting a successor. The reluctant eventual choice, Paul Ryan (WI), saw ten of his co-partisans vote against him when he was elected Speaker. Ryan’s tenure as Speaker was also filled with fights between the right and moderate wings of the party. Prior to the November 2016 election, when the smart money was on Hillary Clinton defeating Donald Trump for President, Washington speculation ran wild about the likelihood that Ryan might be deposed as Speaker in the lame-duck session following a Trump defeat.