CV NEWS FEED // Multiple sources have confirmed that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, is moving forward with his effort to become Speaker of the House following losses on the first two ballots and talk that he was delaying his bid.
Following a series of conflicting developments Thursday, Jordan has stated that he will remain in the race as the House prepares to vote on what will be his third attempt to secure the gavel.
“I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race,” the lawmaker said Thursday evening.
Jordan stated that he plans to “talk with the 20 [Republicans] who voted against” him and expressed hope that Congress “can move forward and begin to work for the American people.”
However, Republicans who have voted against him in his two failed bids are less optimistic about the speaker hopeful’s chances. “We’re still in the same spot,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-FL, who opposes Jordan’s candidacy. “He doesn’t have the votes to be speaker.”
Two of Jordan’s other Republican detractors, Reps John Rutherford, R-FL, and Mike Kelly, R-PA, have also signaled that they will not change their minds.
As Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority of 221 seats in the lower chamber, Jordan can only afford to have four members of his party’s House delegation continue to vote against him.
On the first ballot, Tuesday, Jordan fell 17 votes short with only 200 Republicans voting for him. On the following day’s third ballot, he slightly lost ground only receiving 199 Republican votes – meaning 22 members of the party opposed him.
Fifteen Republican members of Congress consistently opposed Jordan including the aforementioned Giminez, Rutherford, and Kelly.
Four Republicans who voted for Jordan Tuesday voted against him Wednesday: Reps Vern Buchanan, R-FL, Drew Ferguson, R-GA, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-IA, and Pete Stauber, R-MN.
The reverse was true for two other Republicans, who voted against Jordan the first time around but voted for him the second: Reps Doug LaMalfa, R-CA, and Victoria Spartz, R-IN.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-FL, was absent for the first vote due to a family obligation but voted for Jordan during the second.
Both times, all 212 Democrats united to vote for their party leader and Speaker candidate, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY.
A majority of votes is required for any candidate, making Jeffries or any other Democrat becoming speaker a highly unlikely possibility for this congress.
Earlier Thursday, Jordan had initially called off the third speaker vote, instead supporting a plan to give more power to Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, who has been serving as the Speaker pro tempore since the post of Speaker of the House has been vacant.
McHenry is the first person ever to hold this interim title. Although he can indefinitely serve in this role, he currently has no power to do anything besides preside over a vote for speaker.
As a result, Congress cannot vote on any legislation until a fully-fledged speaker is elected, a fact that has concerned many observers as the deadly Israel-Hamas War rages on.
However, Jordan scrapped his plan of bolstering McHenry’s role late Thursday and is as of press time moving forward with his run for speaker.
House Republicans confirmed that the chamber will reconvene sometime on Friday.
Jordan currently serves as the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and was the co-founder and first chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. He has served in Congress since 2017 representing a sprawling district in west-central Ohio.
He is the current Republican nominee for speaker, after the party’s original nominee Rep. Steve Scalise, R-LA, withdrew his bid when it became clear that he would not be able to amass the requisite support of 217 Republican congressmen to win the gavel.
The speaker’s chair has been vacant since Kevin McCarthy’s, R-CA, unprecedented ouster on October 3. This is the longest time the House has been without a speaker since before the Civil War.
The first speaker in American history to ever be removed from the position, McCarthy remains a member of the House Republican Conference, albeit without a leadership post. The measure to oust him, termed a “motion to vacate,” had the support of every voting House Democrat and eight Republicans.
The ultimately successful motion was spearheaded by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, a longtime McCarthy critic. Gaetz was one of a handful of Republicans in the chamber who consistently voted against McCarthy in January.
McCarthy was finally elected speaker on the 15th ballot after he agreed to a then-new rule that would allow one member from either party to file a “motion to vacate.” McCarthy made the concession in order to appease Gaetz and other Republican holdouts.
Few people could have guessed at the time that this very motion would used to depose the new speaker less than nine months later.