Jim Jordan falls short in first speaker’s vote, he vows to continue on

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, failed to secure a majority of votes to become speaker of the House on Tuesday in the first round of voting.

Jordan, a nine-term congressman known for his uncompromising tactics and ties to former President Donald Trump, received 200 votes — far short of the 217 votes needed to claim a majority — while the Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries received unanimous support from his conference with 212 votes.

Utah’s Republican House delegation, Reps. Blake Moore, John Curtis and Burgess Owens, all voted in favor of Jordan.

A second vote was delayed until Wednesday morning after Jordan and his allies failed to make sufficient headway to warrant another test on the House floor.

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Tuesday’s speaker vote — the 16th this year — marks just the latest stumble in a months-long saga of GOP infighting which has led to complete paralysis in the House over the last two weeks as nonessential government funding is set to run dry one month from Tuesday and Congress remains unable to legislate aid packages for Israel or Ukraine without a speaker.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted earlier this month by a handful of GOP defectors after passing a bipartisan resolution to avoid a shutdown, received six votes from embittered allies and swing district representatives.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, whose own speakership bid came to a quick end last week after it became clear he would be unable to persuade both centrists and radicals in his party, received seven votes.

Votes were also cast for New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin by three fellow New Yorkers who represent districts won by President Joe Biden. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Reps. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., each received one vote.

Jordan expressed confidence Tuesday after a second vote was delayed, saying he was willing to push for as many rounds as it takes to get the speaker’s gavel. McCarthy, R-Calif., who has endorsed Jordan’s bid, needed 15 rounds to secure the position in January of this year.

McCarthy began his marathon speaker’s race, the longest in U.S. history, with 201 votes in the first round. Jordan will be working with similar margins but it is yet to be seen whether one-on-one meetings with the party’s 20 holdouts will yield 16 changed minds and a win for Jordan.

But concerns over Jordan’s role in rejecting the results of the 2020 presidential election, his aversion to compromise and his objection to future Ukraine aid may pose an insurmountable hurdle for the lawmaker once called a “legislative terrorist” by former Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

Jordan won House Republicans’ nomination for the chamber’s top position on Friday, ending the day with 152 supporters and 55 on the fence or opposed to his candidacy.

Despite an extensive whip operation over the weekend and on Monday which saw a number of surprise turnarounds in his favor, and an endorsement from Trump, Jordan was unable to secure the support of a handful of Scalise supporters on Tuesday who felt burned by the way the Ohio congressman undermined his colleague’s earlier bid.

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Jordan was also unable to sway a group of McCarthy supporters upset by the lack of accountability being meted out to the eight Republicans who threw the House into chaos by removing the speaker at the beginning of the month.

Other holdouts may have grown more irritated with Jordan after they were contacted by a producer for Sean Hannity, a well-known Fox News host, who pressured lawmakers in passive-aggressive language to explain their opposition to Jordan.

After Tuesday’s results, it appears the controversial House Freedom Caucus-founder’s endorsement from Trump may have done more to hurt him than help him as vulnerable Republicans see a vote for Jordan as a possible career-ender among swing district voters.

House Republicans could still unite behind Jordan. And at this point, there is no clear alternative for the conference. However, there appears to be a growing number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who are proposing a bipartisan deal to elect Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry of North Carolina as House speaker until the spending bill deadline on Nov. 17.

This proposal is unlikely to gain traction, according to Curtis, Utah’s 3rd Congressional District representative, because Democrats are demanding greater say in how bills proceed to a floor vote and additional power in key committees in exchange for their support of a moderate Republican speaker — a concession almost no Republican is willing to make, Curtis said in a video posted on X.

On Monday, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee urged his House counterparts to back Jordan for speaker in a series of posts referencing the Palestinian terror group Hamas, German R&B group Milli Vanilli and Lord Voldemort from “Harry Potter.”

Until House Republicans agree on a speaker the House, and, by extension, Congress, will be unable to pass any legislation, including spending bills to keep the government open and aid packages to replenish Israel’s missile defense system.

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