House speaker race: Republicans drop Jim Jordan as candidate

Republicans on Friday dropped Rep. Jim Jordan as the party’s pick to become the next House speaker after he failed to garner enough support in three votes held this week.

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Jordan lost the vote Friday with 194 of the 214 votes needed to win the race. In the first round of voting, held on Tuesday, Jordan won 200 votes. In a second round of voting held Wednesday, he got 199 votes from his colleagues.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who was nominated for the speakership by Democrats, got all 212 votes from his party members on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Candidates begin to emerge after GOP drops Jordan

Update 3:10 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: At least three Republican lawmakers announced their plans to run for the speakership after the party abandoned Jordan’s bid for the gavel on Friday.

Reps. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Austin Scott of Georgia, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Byron Donalds of Florida have confirmed they plan to run, CNN reported. Texas Republican Reps. Jody Arrington and Roger Williams are also considering runs, according to NBC News.

Republicans plan to meet Monday evening to pick their next nominee for speaker.

Jordan says it was an ‘honor’ to be GOP’s nominee for speaker

Update 2:45 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: Speaking with reporters Friday, Jordan said it was an “honor” to be the speaker designee for Republicans, though he failed to garner enough support to take up the speaker’s gavel.

“I told the conference that I appreciated getting to work with everyone, talk with everyone,” he said. “I got to know members in our conference that I didn’t really know that well over the last three weeks, and that we need to come together and figure out who our speaker is going to be.”

He added that he plans to “work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people.”

McCarthy slams Gaetz after GOP drops Jordan’s speakership bid

Update 2:40 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who was ousted earlier this month as House speaker, criticized Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and seven other Republicans who voted to remove him from office as the chamber continued struggling to elect a new person to lead the House.

Calling them “the Crazy Eights led by Gaetz,” McCarthy said, “the amount of damage they have done to this party and to this country, is insurmountable.”

“It’s astonishing to me, and we are in a very bad position as a party, one that has won the majority, one that America has trusted us with — that a simple eight people can put us in this place,” he said.

GOP voted 86-112 against keeping Jordan as nominee

Update 2:20 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: In a closed-door meeting on Friday, Republicans voted 86-112 against keeping Jordan on as the party’s nominee for speaker, according to C-SPAN.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said GOP lawmakers will meet again Monday to choose their next candidate for speaker.

Jordan was the second Republican chosen to serve as House speaker after the chamber’s GOP members voted to put forth the name of Rep. Steve Scalise. The Louisiana Republican exited the race last week before a vote could be called on the House floor due to a lack of support.

The House has been without a permanent speaker since Oct. 3, when some Republicans joined with Democrats to vote out Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Republicans drop Jordan as candidate for speakership

Update 2:10 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: The GOP on Friday declined to continue supporting Jordan’s bid for the speakership after he lost three rounds of voting aimed at giving him the gavel.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was previously a candidate to be the next speaker, told reporters that the House will “start over” on Monday.

Jordan lost support from 3 more Republicans

Update 12:10 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: In the third round of voting to elect the next House speaker, Republican candidate Jordan lost three more members of his conference, according to the vote tally.

On Wednesday, Jordan lost the votes of 22 Republicans. On Friday, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R.-Pa., Rep. Thomas Kean, R-N.J., and Rep. Marcus Molinaro, R-N.Y., declined to support Jordan’s bid for the speakership.

During the first round of voting for the next House speaker on Tuesday, 20 Republicans declined to vote for Jordan.

Jordan, Jeffries fail to secure votes to win election

Update 12:05 p.m. EDT Oct. 20: The third vote for House speaker ended Friday without a winner after Jordan and Jeffries failed to secure enough support to take up the role.

The winner would have had to have won 214 votes to become the next speaker. Friday’s vote ended with 210 votes for Jeffries and 194 for Jordan.

Twenty-five Republicans declined to vote for Jordan, who was chosen as the GOP’s nominee during a secret ballot last week. The lawmakers were:

• Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who voted for Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C.
• Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who voted for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
• Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who voted for Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn.
• Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., who voted for McHenry.
• Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., who voted for former Rep. Lee Zeldin.
• Rep. Mario Diaz Balart, R-Fla., who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, who voted for Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif.
• Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R.-Pa., who voted for McHenry.
• Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., who voted for Zeldin.
• Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who voted for McCarthy.
• Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. John James, R-Mich., who voted for Donalds.
• Rep. Thomas Kean, R-N.J., who voted for McCarthy.
• Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., who voted for McHenry.
• Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who voted for Zeldin.
• Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who voted for McHenry.
• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who voted for McHenry.
• Rep. Marcus Molinaro, R-N.Y., who voted for Zeldin.
• Rep. John Rutherford, R-Pa., who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. Michael Simpson, R-Idaho, who voted for Scalise.
• Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., who voted for Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark.
• Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., who voted for Scalise.

Jordan loses more than 4 Republicans, unlikely to win third vote

Update 11:20 a.m. EDT Oct. 18: Jordan has lost at least nine votes, indicating that he is unlikely to win the third vote for the House speakership.

Jordan needs 214 votes to win the election. The numbers indicated that he could lose only four votes to claim victory.

Voting is ongoing.

Clark nominates Jeffries as speaker

Update 11:05 a.m. EDT Oct. 20: Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., on Friday formally nominated Jeffries to serve as the next speaker of the House.

She called Jordan “disconnected from the American people and their values.”

“MAGA extremism is designed to divide and it hasbroken the Republican Party,” she said. “(The Republican) nominee’s vision is a direct attack on the freedom and the rights of the American people.”

Speaker nominee will need 214 votes to win

Update 11 a.m. EDT Oct. 20: With 427 members of the House of Representatives present for voting on Friday, the next House speaker will need to win 214 votes to take up the gavel, The Hill reported.

The numbers show he would need support from all but four House Republicans to win the election.

McCarthy nominates Jordan as speaker

Update 10:55 a.m. EDT Oct. 20: Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday formally nominated Jordan to serve as his successor.

“Jim Jordan is an effective legislator,” he said, getting some laughs from the chamber. “To legislate is about more than the name on the bill. It’s about reaching compromise and working long hours behind the scenes to get the job done.”

Critics have zeroed in on Jordan’s legislative record, noting that despite his 17 years in Congress, he has never had a bill signed into law, according to The Washington Post.

House reconvenes ahead of 3rd expected speakership vote

Update 10:05 a.m. EDT Oct. 20: The House has been called to order ahead of an expected vote for House speaker on Friday.

Democrats urge Republicans to find bipartisan path

Update 10 a.m. EDT Oct. 20: The House’s top Democrats urged their Republican colleagues to find a bipartisan candidate for the speakership, calling Jordan a “clear and present danger.”

“We want to find a bipartisan path forward,” Jeffries told reporters ahead of Friday’s expected vote. “At every step of the way, Republicans have rejected bipartisanship and embraced extremism.”

He described Jordan as an “extremist,” pointing to his stances, including his refusal to acknowledge that President Joe Biden rightfully won the 2020 presidential election.

At a news conference earlier Friday, Jordan said, “I think there were all kinds of problems with the 2020 election.”

Original report: Jordan told reporters Friday that he has since “had a good conversation” with Republicans who declined to support his bid for the speakership and added that “we’ll continue to do that.”

“We need to get to work for the American people,” he said.

“We need to do what we said we were going to do. We need to do what we told them we were going to do when they elected us and put us in office, and frankly we can’t do that if the House isn’t open — and we can’t open the House until we get a speaker.”

Republicans, who make up a majority of the House, have struggled to unite behind a new speaker since some party members joined Democrats to remove McCarthy, R-Calif., from the House’s top post on Oct. 3.

Jordan became the Republican pick for speaker on Oct. 13, one day after Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., dropped his bid for the role due to a lack of support. On Thursday, Jordan proposed that House Republicans empower the chamber’s temporary speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., to bring legislation to the floor while he continued working to gain support, though the effort quickly fizzled.

The House is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Friday.

Check back for more on this developing story.

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