In the first ballot, Republican parliamentary group leader Kevin McCarthy failed to garner the 218 votes needed to become speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Prior to Tuesday's vote, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers had openly withdrawn their support for McCarthy.
The last time it happened was a hundred years ago that more than one ballot was needed to vote for the office and a parliamentary group refused to support its candidate in the first round.
Most recently, in 1923, nine ballots were necessary.
Barely two months after the parliamentary elections, both chambers of Congress met in separate sessions for the first time in a new composition.
The post, which has been occupied by Democrat Nancy Pelosi in recent years, is third in the US government rankings after the President and Vice President.