Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, says he’s continuing in the speaker campaign and tells journalists the House needs to get back to business, with a third speaker vote coming Friday as he presses ahead with his speaker campaign.
Jordan addressed this after failing to obtain the 217 votes required to take the gavel in the first two rounds of voting earlier this week. He was able to pay four Republican defections but had far more, falling far short of the 217 required.
On Friday, Jordan stated that people in the United States expect House Republicans to take the lead and effect change on these critical issues. We have significant tasks to accomplish, he explained.
However, Jim stated that his answer is to garner enough votes over the weekend to be elected House Speaker. In short, we must get back to work for the American people. We can’t do that if the house is closed, and we can’t close the house until we have a speaker, he explained.
If Jordan chooses to try to stretch this out in the hopes of tiring out the opposition, there might be additional speaker votes today as well as event votes on Saturday and Sunday.
Last night, Rep. Warren Davidson, a key Jim friend, posted, We’ve heard from our colleagues and the U.S. people. More votes are expected over the weekend.
Jim Jordan’s Third Time Lost
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan was unsuccessful in winning the speaker’s gavel for the third time on Friday, doing worse than in his previous two previous votes.
The defeat happens as the Ohio Republican and Judiciary Committee chairman faces increasing pressure from within his own party to withdraw from the campaign while the House remains paralyzed.
In Friday’s vote, 25 House Republicans voted to oppose Jim, more than in the previous two votes and far more than the number of rebels Jordan can afford to lose and still win the gavel given the GOP’s small majority.
Despite facing stiff opposition and no apparent path to the speakership, Jim has so far remained resolute in the contest. He made it clear after Friday’s unsuccessful vote that he is not backing down while downplaying his latest defeat.
We barely lost a couple of votes, he said, adding that he will continue to campaign for more votes. House Republicans are scheduled to gather behind closed doors at 1 p.m. ET.
The race for speaker has now lasted more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Jordan’s battle to win the gavel has also revealed the limits of former President Donald Trump’s power in the speaker’s campaign, despite his endorsement of Jordan.
As long as there is no chosen speaker, the House is virtually frozen – a dangerous condition as Congress approaches an upcoming federal funding deadline and the potential of a shutdown.
The unprecedented ousting of Kevin McCarthy by a bloc of extreme conservatives comes at a time when Israel is at war with Hamas and Ukraine is fighting Russian aggression.
Some Republicans who reject Jim have accused Ohio Republican friends of mounting a pressure campaign against them. Several Republicans who voted against Jordan’s speakership bid said they received angry calls, threatening texts, and even death threats after casting their ballots. Jordan has strongly condemned the threats.
House Republicans are meeting behind closed doors to plot a course of action after Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, lost backing for his House speaker campaign in a third-round House vote.
More than two weeks after ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was dismissed, Republicans are still in disarray. They will now take a closed-door vote to determine if Jordan will remain the Republican speaker-designate.
Twenty-five Republicans abstained from voting for Jim. Three people who had previously voted for Jordan altered their votes against him: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Marc Molinaro (R-NY), and Thomas Kean (R-NJ) are all Republicans.
Molinaro told reporters before the vote that he would no longer back Jordan. That is not my objective today. That doesn’t mean I’m completely out of the running for Jordan, according to Molinaro.
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