Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) failed to secure the speaker’s gavel for the second time in a Wednesday afternoon vote that saw Republican support for the hardline Ohio lawmaker shrink slightly from where it stood on the first ballot.
With the entire Democratic caucus falling in line behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Jordan could only afford to lose a handful of Republican votes after 20 GOP holdouts voted against him on Tuesday, costing him the gavel on the first ballot.
Jordan’s team appears to have lost ground since then, as 22 House Republicans voted against the party’s nominee in Wednesday’s vote. Representative Pete Stauber (R., Minn.) switched his allegiances on Wednesday and voted for Bruce Westerman (R., Ark.) instead. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Calif.) also abandoned Jordan on Wednesday, shifting her support behind Kay Granger (R., Tex.).
“If you’re a Republican, it ought to be a pretty easy decision,” Representative Tom Cole (R., Okla.), the Rules Committee chairman, said during his speech nominating Jordan.
In choosing Cole, a respected moderate whose name has been floated as a possible alternative to Jordan, to give the address, Jordan’s team was likely signaling to other like-minded members that it’s time to unite behind the party’s nominee after weeks of uncertainty.
Still, there remains a significant portion of the Republican caucus that refuses to rally behind the hardline Ohio lawmaker.
“I think it gets more and more difficult for him every day,” Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.) told reporters on Wednesday after leaving the Republican whip’s office ahead of the vote. “People are talking about this resolution. I told leadership: ‘Call the question. Let’s find out.’”
House Republicans are beginning to feel like “members of a fire department right now… getting all these alarms, fires popping all over the city, and [instead of] just hopping in the truck and putting them out…we’re arguing over who gets to ride shotgun to drive the truck,” Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.), a Jordan supporter, said following the vote.
Mike Garcia (R., Calif.) echoed the sentiment. “We‘ve spent too much time deliberating the speaker’s race on the floor and in the conference, and we keep having the same meetings over and over. That’s the definition of insanity. Right? We’re doing the same thing and expecting a different result. We need to do something different,” Garcia told National Review following the vote on Wednesday afternoon. “Leadership needs to tell us what are we gonna do differently in conference,” the representative added.
Before the vote, Jordan, a leader of the House Freedom Caucus, sought to reassure members that he could unite the party after garnering 200 Republican votes in Tuesday’s session. “I’ve proven I can get the most conservative members of the conference to the more moderate members of the conference; the whole cross-section,” the Ohio lawmaker said. “It’s important that we get the last few.”
“We must stop attacking each other and come together. There’s too much at stake.”
Victoria Spartz (R., Ind.), who cast a surprise ballot in favor of Representative Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) on Tuesday, told National Review the “amount of hate calls” she had gotten “from all over the country” was a sign of how the political process was getting “unhealthy.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), Steve Scalise (R., La.), Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), Byron Donalds (R., Fla.), as well as a handful of other party members, received a smattering of protest votes on the second speakership ballot.
On Tuesday, Jordan first fell short of the necessary 217 votes needed to attain the speakership after a significant number of moderates within the Republican caucus refused to fall in line behind the hardline Ohio lawmaker.
“Who knows what happens next,” Representative Andy Ogles (R., Tenn.) told National Review following Tuesday’s vote. “Credit to Jim Jordan for putting his name out there and going through the process. We’ll see what happens next, but I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Asked whether House Republicans could unite behind an alternative if Jordan were to fail on the second ballot attempt, Representative Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) mused about entering the race. “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. “When my constituents tell me we are dysfunctional, they are absolutely correct.”
One member to watch is House GOP Conference vice chairman Mike Johnson (R., La.), whom members expect to run if Jordan doesn’t have the votes and drops out. “I’m committed to Jordan. I’m trying to help,” Johnson told National Review in an interview. “There’s just a lot of frustration and I don’t think a lot of it is directed at Jim. I think it’s there’s just a lot of angst and frustration about developments over the last few weeks.”
Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has spent recent days rallying fellow Republicans after House majority leader Scalise, initially considered the frontrunner to replace McCarthy, dropped out of the speakership race last Thursday. On Friday, Republicans nominated Jordan as their new candidate for the conference to coalesce behind.