Boehner Could Face Biggest Speaker Revolt Since 1923

From Aaron Blake writing at the Washington Post:

House Speaker John Boehner’s GOP opponents will try to take him down Tuesday.

[…]

The defections Tuesday appear as though they could be more significant than at any point since 1923, but Boehner has one major advantage amid the revolt: the biggest GOP majority since the 1929-30 Congress. The GOP’s 246-188 advantage means Boehner can lose 29 votes before we can even talk about him being in real trouble. That’s because, were that to happen, the opposition would need to rally around a single alternative to have a chance.

The last time significant defections were common — in the 1910s, ’20s and ’30s — it was more common for other candidates to be officially nominated, often by progressive members who bucked the two major parties. Progressive members in 1923, for example, cast 17 ballots for Republican Rep. Henry Cooper (Wis.) and did so for eight straight ballots, depriving Gillett of his majority until the ninth ballot, when they relented.

Read the rest of the story at the Washington Post.