UPDATE: Back to square one: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is out as the Republican nominee for speaker of the House.
Jordan fell short in roll call votes this week, and lost even more ground in the third ballot today.
“We need to come together and figure out who are speaker is going to be,” Jordan told reporters.
The plan is now to hold another speaker forum on Monday, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) told CNN.
With no speaker, business in the House has been halted, meaning no legislation can pass Congress, as the White House seeks an aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, as well as money to boost border security.
Jordan was the second nominee selected by the Republican conference since Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker 17 days ago. Republicans first nominated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), but he dropped out when it became clear he would not win in a floor vote. They then selected Jordan, the runner up to Scalise, but he also was unable to win.
In the roll call vote earlier today, 25 House Republicans voted against Jordan, with a number of them complaining of a pressure campaign orchestrated by right wing talk show hosts and on social media. Some members complained of receiving anonymous death threats and harassment, along with vile messages directed at family members, for withholding their support for Jordan.
Republicans then held a closed door conference meeting in the basement of the Capitol, where they voted by secret ballot on whether Jordan should continue. According to Punchbowl News, 122 said he should not and 86 voted that he should.
Jordan likely would have taken the Republican conference farther to the right than McCarthy, as he had forged much of his career as a so-called “flame thrower” with attacks on the establishment. According to the report of the January 6th Committee, Jordan was a significant figure in then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. At a press conference today, Jordan declined to back away from claims that the election was stolen.
PREVIOUSLY, 9:07 a.m. PT: Rep, Jim Jordan (R-OH) lost more ground in his effort to become the next speaker of the House.
The vote was 210 votes for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and 194 for Jordan. A majority of 215 votes was needed to become speaker.
“For the 17th day in a row we do not have a speaker, which means we do not have a functioning House of Representative, which means we do not have a functioning legislative branch,” CNN’s Jake Tapper told viewers.
Some 25 House Republicans voted against Jordan, three more than opposed him in the vote on Wednesday and five more than on the first speaker roll call on Tuesday. His strategy is premised on the idea that support would start to move his way with each vote session, as they did when Kevin McCarthy stayed in the race in January before he was finally elected on the 15th ballot.
Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-NC) garnered six votes, underscoring the preference among some GOPers to make him temporary speaker.
As he left the chamber, McCarthy told CNN’s Manu Raju that it was up to Jordan to decide what he will do next. The former House Speaker said that Republicans plan to conference this afternoon. “We are in a very bad place right now, yes,” McCarthy told another reporter.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told reporters afterward that the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy are willing to face censure or even removal from the conference if that is the “pound of flesh” that the Jordan holdouts want to vote for him. Gaetz led the effort to get rid of McCarthy.
PREVIOUSLY: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) sought to flip 22 Republican holdouts who have blocked his path to House speakership today, but there was little sign that he is getting any closer to clinching the leadership post.
In fact, acrimony and tension have only seemed to harden as the week has gone on, as a number of those opposed to his candidacy have complained of receiving death threats and harassment, fueled by a pressure campaign from right wing media. CNN on Thursday played an expletive filled voicemail message that was directed at the wife of an unidentified Republican holdout.
Jordan sought to sway members with an 11-minute press conference in the Rayburn Room of the Capitol, against the backdrop of American flags. He talked about the urgency of electing a speaker and getting the House open again, yet he rejected the idea that he was causing additional delay by refusing to drop out. “There’s been multiple rounds for speaker before,” he said.
With 427 members present for the third vote, Jordan needs 214 votes to win the speakership.
At the press conference, Jordan also declined to back away from his position that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seized on Jordan’s comments, telling reporters that Jordan was a “clear and present danger.”
Reporters on Capitol Hill have run out of superlatives to describe the level of discord that has paralyzed the Republican conference, underscored on Thursday when members shouted at each other during a four-hour meeting. One member blocked another on X/Twitter.
“This is a fight between the institutionalists and the Trump populists,” former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) said on CNN.