Thursday, May 2, 2024

Rep Jim Jordan lost his first vote for House speaker Tuesday. Here's what you should know

rep. jim jordan loses house speaker vote

The House adjourned Tuesday evening after Jordan failed to garner enough Republican support to clinch the gavel in the first ballot for House speaker. Tensions came to a head in Thursday's meeting of the House GOP conference, and several Republicans leaving the meeting voiced their opposition to the plan to elevate McHenry in lieu of a permanent speaker. Six Republicans voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3. Several others voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who withdrew his name from consideration last week, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Trump ally who didn't run for reelection in 2022 when he ran for governor in New York.

rep. jim jordan loses house speaker vote

Biden-district Republicans

“Jim Jordan will be a GREAT Speaker of the House,” the former president said on social media. One of Trump’s most fervent supporters in the House is nominating Jordan for House speaker. Jordan has so far lost nine GOP votes, well more than the three he could spare. They have instead backed Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Steve Scalise, former Rep. Lee Zeldin or others. But Scalise’s support was likely cold comfort to Jordan, who is on the brink of losing the first round unless votes change before the end. Twenty Republicans have voted against Jordan, an outcome way worse than his allies were hoping for.

Jordan holdouts demand immediate second vote

They have given no indication that they even have demands that Jordan could meet — in fact, they reportedly told him in a meeting on Thursday that they would never support him, regardless of what he may offer. The somewhat longer answer is that Republicans are meeting on Capitol Hill at 1 p.m. With his support eroding, he could drop out of the race and Republicans could go back to square one to find a new nominee. Or he could keep running, and keep trying to convince his detractors that they should support him.

rep. jim jordan loses house speaker vote

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Jim Jordan scrambles for votes after 20 GOP defections imperil his speaker bid - CNN

Jim Jordan scrambles for votes after 20 GOP defections imperil his speaker bid.

Posted: Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

He also took issue with right-wing influencers and television stars who have waged a public campaign to pressure GOP holdouts into backing Jordan. But that was no thanks to California Republicans who put tribal loyalty above the country’s best interest. Jordan could stay in the race and continue trying to win over Republican holdouts.

Why do Republicans oppose Jim Jordan as speaker and what’s next?

Jim Jordan loses second speaker vote. Some want Patrick McHenry: Recap - USA TODAY

Jim Jordan loses second speaker vote. Some want Patrick McHenry: Recap.

Posted: Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

As they watched his attempt to end the tortured efforts to choose a new House speaker, the uncompromising figure he casts nationally is much the same as seen back home in the heavily gerrymandered, largely Republican, Fourth Congressional District. He’s a big McCarthy ally, but previously announced he’d back Jordan on this ballot. Here are the Republicans whose votes moved for and against Mr. Jordan on the second vote. The talks have gained urgency as war has broken out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and lawmakers increasingly worry that the House will be unable to act on that crisis — or make any progress on a measure to fund the government and avoid a shutdown next month.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said his wife had received anonymous texts and voice mails urging her to persuade her husband to support Jordan. Afterward, a spokesman for Jordan vowed the Ohio Republican would “keep going,” even as it was unclear what his path to the necessary votes would be. Later, Jordan said lawmakers would reconvene Thursday instead of continuing to vote Wednesday night.

Jim Jordan lost a second House speaker vote. Here's what happens next.

Scalise won a private vote among the Republican conference, but withdrew his name from contention after it became clear he could not get enough votes. When McCarthy negotiated himself into the speakership earlier this year, one of his key concessions was allowing any House member to file a motion to vacate, or remove him from speaker. Representative Matt Gaetz, a far-right Republican from Florida, filed such a motion earlier this month and enough Republicans – eight in total – voted against McCarthy to oust him. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that there was growing “momentum” in his caucus to pursue this option, and several Democrats have stressed that the House cannot afford to remain immobilized.

Several of the members who are opposed to Jordan are members of the House appropriations committee, who are reportedly opposed to the way Jordan has embraced a hard line on spending cuts and shutting down the government. Jordan, a far-right Ohio Republican who co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, earned the nomination to be the conference’s next speaker on 13 October. He won the nomination with 124 of the House Republican conference’s 221 votes. In order to become speaker he needed to get 217 votes from all house members. After McCarthy’s ouster, Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jordan entered the speaker’s race.

Jordan briefly backed the proposal as a way to allow Congress to return to its work while he continued to campaign for the post that is second in line to the presidency. “The fastest way to get to work for the American people is to elect a speaker so the House can be open and we can get things done,” Jordan said on Friday morning. On Sunday, Axios obtained an email from a producer for Fox host Sean Hannity, who frequently has Jordan on his program, that had been sent to Republican House members opposing his nomination. “Hannity would like to know why during a war breaking out between Israel and Hamas, with the war in Ukraine, with the wide open borders, with a budget that’s unfinished why would Rep XXX be against Rep Jim Jordan for speaker? Please let us know when Rep XXXX plans on opening The People’s House so work can be done,” the email read.

There is recent precedent for a candidate to prevail in a long, drawn-out speaker's battle. In January, the House stayed in session for four days and held 15 rounds of voting before McCarthy ultimately prevailed. Jordan's total was one fewer than the 200 he secured on the first ballot on Tuesday, a sign that he has struggled to make any inroads among the GOP holdouts.

Even as it was clear that Jordan had no clear path to becoming the speaker, no Republican emerged to seriously challenge him. Republicans currently have a Sunday noon deadline to announce their candidacy ahead of another round of speakership talks. The speaker runs the business of the House and controls the floor schedule and which bills come to the floor. Jordan was a key player in the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, further cementing his loyalty to the former president. Trump, who faces state and federal criminal charges for his attempts to overturn the election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents, is the front-runner in polls for the GOP nomination for president in 2024. Jordan’s continued failure to secure the speakership is a defeat for former President Trump, who endorsed the Ohioan shortly after McCarthy’s ouster.

Jordon told reporters afterward that he hasn’t decided if he will pursue a third vote. There is also reportedly bad blood over the way Jordan and his allies treated Steve Scalise. Scalise previously beat Jordan to win the conference’s nomination to be speaker, but withdrew his bid after it became clear he couldn’t get enough votes to win in the House. Some Scalise allies think Jordan didn’t do enough to rally Republicans around Scalise. Republicans have privately admitted they will start to flip their support if Jordan can’t clinch the speakership, and more GOP lawmakers are expected to oppose Jordan on Thursday.

At the press conference, he characterized the conversation as “good” but it was clear he remained far off from winning the 217 votes needed to become speaker. The speaker’s chair has been empty since a cadre of hardline Republicans ousted McCarthy at the start of the month, a first in American history. Without a speaker, the immobilized chamber has been unable to conduct legislative business as wars rage in Europe and the Middle East and a government shutdown looms unless Congress passes a federal funding bill before mid-November. There has never been a similar situation, so it’s unclear exactly what the scope of McHenry’s power is. It has been widely understood to be extremely narrow so far, limited to the authority to oversee a vote for the next speaker. As Republicans stalled in picking a new speaker, there has been chatter about temporarily expanding McHenry’s power so that the House can conduct some limited business.

Four Republicans who had voted for Mr. Jordan on the first ballot rose to oppose him, and two Republicans who had voted against Mr. Jordan on the first ballot changed their votes and supported him. Representative Jim Jordan, the hard-line Republican from Ohio, lost a second bid for speaker on Wednesday after running headlong into opposition from a group of mainstream G.O.P. holdouts who vowed to block the ultraconservative from the leadership post. Jim Jordan, a hard-right Ohio Republican, couldn’t gain enough support from his party to become speaker. The House remains leaderless after two weeks of Republican infighting and will return Thursday, according to a person familiar with the plans.

In a speech nominating McCarthy before the second round of voting, Jordan said he believed McCarthy was the right guy for the job and encouraged Republicans to "rally around him." Twenty-two Republicans voted against him, two more than did so in Tuesday’s vote. Yet with 20 members already having shown themselves willing to publicly vote against Jordan, and even more holdouts expected on a second ballot, the task of coming together, for House Republicans, is daunting.

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