On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan failed to gain the 217 votes needed to become Speaker of the House.
The body will reconvene this morning at 11 a.m. ET to further deliberate the matter and take up another vote. Has there been any moment overnight on the 20 holdouts voting against Jordan? Only time will tell this morning but it doesn’t appear much has changed since yesterday.
The latest from NBC News:
The House is scheduled to take a second vote on Rep. Jim Jordan’s nomination for speaker at 11 a.m. after the Ohio Republican fell short on the first round of voting Tuesday.
Jordan was nominated last week after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., withdrew from the race. Jordan will likely need the support of 217 of 221 Republicans to be elected to the position, but he received only 200 votes on the first ballot.
There has been talk of somehow settling on Rep. Patrick McHenry as a compromise to act as Speaker pro tempore, a move Jordan opposes, obviously:
Jordan said that empowering Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., to be speaker pro tempore is not the “right way to go.”
Several Republicans and some Democrats have been floating the idea to keep McHenry in a temporary speaker position and Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, plans to introduce that idea to the floor today.
Jordan told reporters today that “90%” of Republicans supported him. He seemed to suggest that McHenry would only be able to get to power with Democratic votes, saying “I think we should get a Republican speaker.”
Jordan said, “I hope so,” when asked if he would pick up more support on the second ballot today.
If Jordan can’t cobble together a winning coalition after a second vote, what’s left for the House GOP conference? It’s a total fiasco at this point. The jury’s still out on whether Matt Gaetz is the smartest or dumbest guy in the room for ejecting McCarthy from the Speaker’s chair. If Jordan loses again, it’s looking more like the latter.
Live Stream – GOP House Speaker Vote Day 2 (Oct. 18)
Here’s the live House feed from RSBN. Expect things to go live around 11 a.m. ET when the next vote is scheduled:
Alternate Live Stream: Newsmax (YouTube)
