Jim Jordan Pushes For 3rd Speaker Vote As Support Slips Away

Topline

After losing two consecutive rounds of voting for the speakership, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday is pushing forward with a third vote, a spokesperson said, though a growing number of Republican holdouts refuse to support Jordan and a group of moderates push for an alternative.

House Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), left, with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) before a … [+] round of voting on Wednesday.

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Key Facts

Jordan’s spokesperson Russell Dye told reporters after the vote on Wednesday that Jordan is “going to keep going,” even though he is nearly two dozen Republican votes short of winning the speakership with Democrats standing unanimously opposed to Jordan.

Jordan lost the second round of voting Wednesday afternoon, after all Democrats present voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), while 22 Republicans voted for candidates besides Jordan, and Jordan received 199 votes—18 short of the 217 necessary to win.

The Ohio Republican—who has gained national recognition as an ardent advocate of former President Trump and a supporter of Trump’s baseless 2020 election denial—was able to flip two Republicans who voted against him in the first round on Tuesday, though he lost four other GOP lawmakers who had supported him in the first round.

It’s unclear if Jordan will fare better in future rounds of voting: Some unnamed Jordan opponents told CNN they planned to stagger their votes against Jordan so he loses by a larger margin in future rounds.

Holdout Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) argued Jordan’s efforts to pressure GOP holdouts may not have helped him, especially as the GOP conference remains deeply divided, telling Politico his loss of support from the first to second rounds of voting “is probably evidence that it was a tactical error to bring it to the floor without ironing these issues out”.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), who also voted for Scalise in both rounds, told Semafor his staff has been “cussed out” on phone calls with Jordan, describing Jordan’s strategy as “attack, attack—attack the members who don’t agree with you,” while Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon—a supporter of recently-ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)—told Politico his wife received anonymous texts and emails urging her husband to choose Jordan.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who voted for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) in both rounds of voting, told the New York Times he was voting for “the guy who won the election,” following Scalise’s initial nomination as the GOP’s pick for House speaker before he dropped out of the race last week.

Tangent

Without a speaker, the House has effectively been halted from its conducting normal operations, including votes on foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, which President Joe Biden pleaded for following military group Hamas’ offensive from Gaza earlier this month. The House’s efforts to avert a government shutdown have also been halted, with less than a month left before the deadline to approve the federal budget.

What To Watch For

Meanwhile, a growing group of House Republicans disgruntled with the prolonged voting process are expected to back a motion to expand the authority of Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), enabling him to bring legislation to the House floor.

Contra

Despite the motion for additional powers to McHenry, not all Republicans are on board. Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told reporters such a move would be akin to “playing games with such an important position that’s third in line to the presidency” that could “do enormous damage” to the GOP and the House.

Surprising Fact

In addition to Jeffries and Jordan, a group of other House Republicans—and two former House members—also received votes on Wednesday. Seven votes went to Scalise, who threw his hat into the speaker race just hours after Jordan earlier this month before abruptly withdrawing, while McCarthy received five votes, and former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin received three. One vote was also casted for former GOP House Speaker John Boehner.

Big Number

15. That’s how many rounds of voting it took the House to elect McCarthy to the speakership in January, after the GOP took control of the chamber and a group of far-right holdouts refused to vote for the California Republican, demanding sweeping federal spending cuts instead. McCarthy garnered enough support from his party only after agreeing to drastic concessions, including by limiting the number of representatives necessary to force a motion to vacate, a concession that ultimately became McCarthy’s downfall.