(DailyWire) After Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) failed to get enough support to win the speakership in three House floor votes, Republicans have elected to move on.
GOP lawmakers voted to drop Jordan as their nominee in a new secret ballot in a Republican conference meeting on Friday. The tally reportedly was 86-112. A new candidate forum is expected to take place on Monday.
“We need to come together and figure out who our Speaker’s going to be. I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people,” Jordan told reporters after the secret ballot.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-CA) after losing a secret ballot to be speaker nominee: “We need to come together and figure out who our speaker is going to be. I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people.” pic.twitter.com/pa95S6NisI
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 20, 2023
This marks the second downfall of a GOP nominee in the 17 days that followed Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) being removed as speaker. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) ended his candidacy as the GOP’s nominee last week before a House floor vote could happen as he faced opposition from a small group of Republicans.
Across a trio of ballots this week, the number of GOP holdouts who defied Jordan’s candidacy grew from 20 members in the first round to 25 members in the third. Democrats have voted in a bloc supporting their nominee, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), but no single member has managed to receive a simple majority in the chamber that was needed to secure victory.
“We’re in a very bad place right now,” McCarthy told reporters after the third speaker vote.
In a last-ditch effort on Friday, Republicans who voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy as speaker earlier this month sent out a letter saying they were prepared to “accept censure, suspension, or removal from the Conference” to get Jordan elected speaker. The letter had the name of all eight Republicans who voted against McCarthy, but Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) — who has been voting against Jordan — told reporters his inclusion was a “misunderstanding” and he was later removed in a second edition.
The letter did not appear to sway the conference, as it then voted to bump Jordan as its nominee.
There has been a sense of urgency to come to a resolution as a government shutdown is possible by mid-November without a spending deal and members want to respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
