Now that House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan officially failed in his first floor attempt to secure the speakership Tuesday afternoon, reporters and members alike are scrambling to figure out what’s next. Can Jordan shore up more support during a second round of voting? Or will his no-vote margin only grow as the process continues?
Rest assured that other prospective speaker candidates are leaving the door open to running should Jordan’s fail to lock up enough votes to secure the gavel. That includes House GOP vice conference chairman Mike Johnson, whom many members expect to run if and only if Jordan drops out. (For now, Johnson tells National Review he’s “committed to Jordan” and “trying to help” the Ohio Republican get to 217 on the floor.)
GOP representative Dan Meuser also teased in a brief interview Tuesday after Jordan’s first formal floor vote that he might consider running if no progress is made in subsequent rounds. “Are you kidding? If we go back to it, I’m considering it because I’m not gonna let this kindergarten continue. I’ll do it,” Meuser told National Review.
Other names that members are floating to National Review as possible speaker candidates include House Budget chairman Jodey Arrington, Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green, Republican Study Committee chairman Kevin Hern, and perhaps even ex-speaker Kevin McCarthy. Of course, this all depends on Jordan’s next move, and right now he’s expected to keep his name in the running for the foreseeable future in hopes that the current no-votes will cave to grassroots GOP pressure.
Might this pro-Jordan pressure be backfiring? Representative Byron Donalds (R., Fla.), a Jordan backer from a deep-red district, seems to think so. “You have to deal with everybody differently,” Donalds told reporters shortly after Tuesday’s vote, adding: “My hope is that we can work through that over the next couple hours.”
As members prepare for another round of voting (likely on Wednesday), it’s worth remembering that the speaker candidate with the most votes on the House floor is Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries . . .