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House Republicans on Friday nominated Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan to become the next speaker, more than a week after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role. But his path to the gavel still appeared tenuous.
Republican lawmakers voted 124-81 to nominate Jordan, far short of the 217 needed to secure the speakership when it goes before the entire House. The hard right Judiciary Committee chair’s only opponent was Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a relatively low-profile member who entered the race at the last moment.
In a second, secret-ballot vote, only 155 Republicans said they would back Jordan on the floor, while 55 said they would not, Axios reported. Republicans said they planned to hold a floor vote on Tuesday.
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House GOP members have been in disarray since McCarthy’s ousting, finding little consensus on who should succeed him.
Their first nominee, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, dropped his bid for the gavel after it became clear he did not have the 217 votes to secure the speakership. Scalise had beaten out Jordan for the nomination in close contest earlier this week.
Many Republicans now believe Jordan could face the same fate as his former rival. His deeply conservative politics — he’s a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus and a dogged public defender of Donald Trump — have won him the devotion of the party’s often implacable right wing, as well as Trump’s endorsement. But they’re a concern for many party moderates. He also reportedly alienated a number of colleagues in his showdown with Scalise.
“There’s no one, not a person in our conference, not a person in America that can get 217 votes out of this group,” Rep. Steve Womack said in his regular “Comment from the Capitol.”
Jordan does have some key supporters lined up. Former speaker Kevin McCarthy has backed him, as has Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry. Both could serve as bridges to the party’s more business-minded and centrist wings. “I worked for leader Scalise to be speaker and I’ll do the same work for Chairman Jordan,” McHenry told reporters.
Some Jordan’s supporters have voiced optimism that he’ll be able to overcome his deficit in the coming days. “I think it really just comes down to listening,” said Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla. “When you have someone who feels like they have not been heard, when they have been sidelined, they feel like this is the one way that they can actually take a stand. So all it’s going to take is just repairing some of these relationships.”
Still, Jordan will have his work cut for him whipping votes in the coming days — a process that will start with him having to figure out who his opponents are, after the secret ballot.
“You’’ll see an enormous amount of support for Jim Jordan,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. Said. “I wish that they’d had a roll call vote so folks would know who to call.”
While much of the party has bemoaned the chaotic speaker battle — Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. succinctly summed it up as a “clusterfuck” early Friday — some hardline members say they still believe the ordeal will ultimately be healthy.
“The one thing that the American people I think really do want is a deliberative process,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla said. “Those get messy. They do get messy.”
The View From Democrats
Democrats have attacked Jordan for aggressively backing Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. During a gathering outside the Capitol, Rep. Pete Aguilar, chair of House Democratic caucus, called Jordan “a threat to our democracy” and “Donald Trump-endorsed MAGA darling.”