The House GOP's two-week leadership crisis will continue after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) fell well short of the votes needed to win the speakership on the first ballot Tuesday.
After the vote, Jordan posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, begging for harmony among D.C. Republicans he had previously attempted to strong-arm: “We must stop attacking each other and come together,” he wrote. “There’s too much at stake. Let’s get back to working on the crisis at the southern border, inflation, and helping Israel.”
Ultimately, 20 Republicans voted for someone other than Jordan—nearly seven times as many as he could afford to lose.
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There was no viable alternative candidate: seven voted for Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and six voted for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, both of whom are not currently running. Three New Yorkers voted for former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who has not expressed interest in running. One voted for Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), which seemed to surprise Garcia, and Tom Emmer (R-MN), Tom Cole (R-OK), and Thomas Massie (R-KY) all got one vote as well.
Jordan and his allies never predicted he would win on the first ballot, but they hoped the opposition would keep to the single digits—ensuring that pressure on the holdouts could deliver a Jordan victory by the second or third round.
Instead, the Jordan holdouts offered a strong show of force against the Judiciary Chairman, seeming to suggest he may never have the votes to win.
The group of detractors consisted of McCarthy and Scalise loyalists, vulnerable incumbents concerned with Jordan's far-right politics, a group of New York Republicans who may want to negotiate for their votes, and members who have simply fumed over the right wing-driven process that brought the party to the brink.
“His tactics certainly didn't work on me,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), who voted for McCarthy. “Actually, I become more cemented in a position.”
Now, Jordan and his allies must figure out how to flip his substantial opposition—privately, or in a marathon series of floor votes like the one Kevin McCarthy survived to win the office back in January.
Or Jordan may step aside and allow someone else to come forward—like McCarthy, Emmer, or the current caretaker speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC).
In a promising sign for Jordan, some of the initial votes against him appeared to be one-off shows of protest.
“I was for Kevin McCarthy the whole time and I thought the process has been terrible, what has happened to him,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA). “So, I'm voting for Jim Jordan because he's a good guy, he's done good work on committee, and we need to move forward with this place today and get our work done.”
Others were indicating they are still in play, like Rep. John James (R-MI), who said “stand by” when asked if he would back Jordan on the next round.
“The priority is right now and will always be my district,” said James, who represents a competitive suburban district. “I will always vote for people here who will prioritize the needs of my district.”
Faced with another protracted speakership floor fight, lawmakers were as in the dark as any casual observer of this messy and unprecedented process. McHenry recessed the House floor after the vote Tuesday afternoon, leaving Republicans waiting for word on when they would meet to discuss their options.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a Jordan ally, told The Daily Beast that he expected Jordan to run again and ultimately prevail in a coming round of votes—which could come later this afternoon.
“The way I look at it is, Jim got 200 votes for Speaker of the House,” said Roy. Addressing those who did not vote for Jordan, the Texas Republican said, “Why do you oppose Jim Jordan? Give me your reasons for why you're voting no. I mean, is it just because you're angry? That's not a message.”
It is far from a given that the Ohio Republican—who as co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus pioneered the brand of zero-sum, ideologically driven House GOP politics that doomed McCarthy’s speakership—will be able to unite the conference.
In certain GOP circles, some were taking a victory lap around Jordan's grave, pointing fingers for his failure and taking pleasure in his defeat.
“It shouldn’t surprise anyone,” said a senior GOP aide, “that a former wrestling coach with zero accomplishments other than shouting louder than the next guy just went down in flames on national TV.”
“The dumbass tweets from DC Draino and Benny Johnson calling everyone opposing Jordan a RINO are hurting Jordan,” another senior GOP aide told The Daily Beast.
All but a few Republicans wanted this scenario. But with the House floor paralyzed until a new speaker is elected, and with members anxious to start work to avert a shutdown on Nov. 17 and approve aid for Israel, there seems to be a clear appetite on the GOP side to simply elect someone and move on.
Even if that someone is Jordan, a man who former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) once called a “legislative terrorist,” successfully maneuvered his party into at least one government shutdown that ended exactly 10 years ago today, has not passed a single piece of legislation with his name on it since his election in 2006, and vocally backed former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud in 2020.
But the opposition to Jordan reflects the remarkable level of anger, frustration, and bitterness that has festered in the House GOP conference since McCarthy’s ouster—feelings that will be hard for Jordan to quell, particularly because his push for the gavel only seemed to exacerbate divides.
After McCarthy fell, Jordan wasn’t even the party’s consensus choice to succeed him. That was Scalise, the House GOP’s longtime No. 2. In a private secret ballot vote last week for the party’s speakership nomination, Scalise defeated Jordan by a margin of 113 to 99.
But instead of honoring party tradition of backing the nominee, Jordan’s supporters refused to support Scalise on the floor, ensuring he would fail. Jordan said he would get behind Scalise, but only tepidly. With no path forward, the Louisiana Republican bowed out of contention on Thursday, paving the way for Jordan to re-enter the race.
On Friday, Jordan defeated token opposition—Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), who said he didn’t even want the job—by a surprisingly narrow margin to win the speaker nomination. All of a sudden, the hardliners who were vowing to block Scalise were now urging Jordan’s opponents to be team players and put aside their differences to get behind the Ohio Republican.
Crucially, Jordan’s allies carried out a campaign to pressure holdouts, one in which right-wing media personalities and MAGA influencers steered grassroots outrage to members who had not supported Jordan.
By Monday afternoon, it looked as if Jordan had all but eliminated his most serious remaining obstacles to the Speaker’s gavel. One by one, key anti-Jordan holdouts—members who pledged not to vote for him as recently as this past weekend—came out in support of him.
But the dam had not broken enough by Tuesday to deliver Jordan the speakership. Republican lawmakers appeared to be prepared for a long fight.
“Two things you really don't like watching being made are law and sausage, because it ruins the taste and both of them,” said Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) ahead of the Tuesday vote. “And unfortunately, as our members asked early on for an open process, this open process sometimes looks pretty ugly, but it's still the best process out there because the people are still in control.
