Jim Jordan’s bid for U.S. House speaker ends in closed session after GOP rejection

WASHINGTON – Ohio Republican Jim Jordan is no longer the Republican candidate for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Shortly after a failed vote Friday on Jordan’s bid, Republicans held a closed session in which Jordan failed to secure enough votes from his fellow Republican lawmakers to remain in the race as their candidate.

“I told him [Republican] “It was an honor to be nominated to speak at the conference,” Jordan told reporters.

The vote was Jordan’s third attempt this week to win sufficient support from Republicans, who hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

“We have to go back to the drawing board,” former spokesman Kevin McCarthy told reporters.

Steve Scalise of Louisiana said Republicans would choose a novel candidate on Monday and return to their quandary.

Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who served as speaker pro tempore, told reporters that a vote on speaker was planned to be held on Tuesday.

A candidate forum for a novel speaker will be held Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Republican Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma told reporters shortly after Jordan’s rejection that he would run.

“I just voted for my good friend Jim Jordan to remain our designated speaker, but the conference has decided that he will no longer hold that title. Two designated speakers have just dropped out. We have to come together and do it quickly. I have spoken to every member of the conference over the last few weeks. We need a different type of leader who has a proven track record, which is why I am running for Speaker of the House,” Hern wrote on X Friday afternoon.

Multiple news media reports on X indicated that Reps. Austin Scott of Georgia and Jack Bergman of Michigan will also run.

“Swamp at work”

Matt Gaetz of Florida, who introduced the measure to remove McCarthy more than two weeks ago and now supports Jordan, called the internal vote result “outrageous.”

“I think that was the swamp at work,” Gaetz told States Newsroom as he entered a basement elevator in the U.S. House of Representatives after the meeting. “The most popular Republican in the country was just stabbed to death in a secret, anonymous vote in the bowels of the Capitol.”

Jordan lost more Republican votes in his third round on Friday, 194 votes to 210, than in the previous two rounds, bringing the total to 25 Republican defections. All Democrats in attendance also opposed his candidacy and supported Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. The successful candidate needed a majority of the 429 members voting on Friday.

Friday marked the 17th day that the U.S. House of Representatives was without a speaker and unable to conduct business.

Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Kean of New Jersey and Marcus Molinaro of New York voted against Jordan on Friday, increasing the Ohio Republican’s previous deficit by three.

The third vote took place in the White House sent a nearly $106 billion additional relief package to Congress early Friday for funding border security for Israel, Ukraine and the United States, and as lawmakers have less than 30 days until the administration’s funding expires.

Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has earned a reputation as a conservative firebrand and is a co-founder of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. Several members who voted against him did so received death threats by supporters of the Ohio congressman.

Jordan was one of more than 100 Republicans who objected to the 2020 election results following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

More ballots?

Hours before the third vote, Jordan held a press conference in which he announced that he was willing to sit on multiple ballots to be elected speaker.

“There have already been several rounds of voting for speaker,” he said, referring to McCarthy, who completed 15 rounds before being elected in January.

Those votes could also impact the coming days, Jordan said, when “our plan this weekend is to elect a speaker.”

But the conference decided differently after the failed vote in the plenary session.

Republicans who voted against Jordan on Friday included Don Bacon of Nebraska, Vern Buchanan of Florida, Ken Buck of Colorado, Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, Anthony D’Esposito of New York, Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida and Jake Ellzey from Texas, Drew Ferguson from Georgia, Fitzpatrick, Andrew Garbarino from New York, Carlos Giménez from Florida, Tony Gonzales from Texas, Kay Granger from Texas, John James from Michigan, Kean, Mike Kelly from Pennsylvania, Jennifer Kiggans from Virginia, Nick LaLota of New York, Mike Lawler of New York, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Molinaro, John Rutherford of Florida, Simpson, Pete Stauber of Minnesota and Steve Womack of Arkansas.

Jordan lost two votes due to absenteeism: Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, who arrived in Israel on Friday morning for a fact-finding mission, and Wesley Hunt of Texas.

Absent on the Democratic side were Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Donald Payne of New Jersey.

Speaker pro tem

Also the Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution on Thursday that would have provided fleeting authorization McHenry was elected speaker pro tempore to pass major legislation such as government funding, an annual defense bill and additional aid to Ukraine and Israel.

There are many debates about how much authority McHenry has the role of designated interim speaker, introduced after 9/11 to ensure continuity of government in the event of a catastrophic attack.

After the third round of voting, McHenry said that reversing those votes was “a serious challenge that we must overcome.”

“That is why we will hold a conference session,” he said.

McCarthy, who was ousted in early October, gave the nomination speech for Jordan in the House on Friday.

“He is uncomplicated, honest and reliable. This is Jim Jordan,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy defended Jordan amid criticism of Jordan’s failure to pass legislation in the House of Representatives.

“If we measure legislators by how many bills have their names on them, we’re using the wrong yardstick,” McCarthy said. “Some of the members I know who have the most bills in their name are the most selfish. Jim Jordan, on the other hand, is one of the most selfless members I have ever known.”

Rep. Katherine Clark of New York, who nominated Jeffries, called Jordan “a real threat to our democracy and our Constitution.”

“We need a speaker who will rule through consensus, not conflict. We need a speaker worthy of wielding that gavel, a leader who will defend democracy, not disparage it,” said Clark, of Massachusetts. “Now more than ever, we need proven, patriotic leadership that puts people first, and that’s why I’m proud to appoint Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House.”

“Clear and present danger”

Before the third round of voting, Jeffries held a press conference in which he warned of the dangers of electing Jordan speaker of the House of Representatives.

“Jim Jordan is a clear and present danger to our democracy,” Jeffries said, adding that Jordan has amplified falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election.

He said Democrats “have made it clear repeatedly that we want to find a bipartisan path forward every step of the way.”

But he refrained from naming a Republican candidate that Democrats would support.

One of the Jordanian GOP holdouts, Díaz-Balart, said he thinks it’s time for the Republican conference to find a novel candidate for speaker.

“It’s pretty clear he’s lacking the votes,” Díaz-Balart said of Jordan.

He added that he believes Jordan will continue to lose Republican support if he continues to vote. In Jordan lost 20 Republicans in the first round of voting and in in the second round he lost 22.

Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has endorsed Jordan, said he expects the conference will discuss whether to vote on whether Republicans continue to support Jordan as their nominee.

“It’s the will of the (Republican) conference,” Massie said.

No speaker for weeks

Eight Republicans and all Democrats voted to oust California Republican McCarthy on October 3bringing the lower chamber to a halt for the last 17 days.

The GOP conference struggled to reach agreement after numerous closed-door meetings and internal votes.

Scale initially received the nomination for the hammer though dropped out of the race a day latereven before a plenary vote was called. The Louisiana Republican was unable to attract the support of far-right members and therefore would not have been able to secure the number of votes needed to win.

Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.