Republicans still can’t choose a speaker of the House. Now what?

How Congress got here, what it means for you and what comes next.

Jon Ward
·Chief National Correspondent
·4 min read
1.8k
U.S. Representative Blake Moore of Utah and fellow House Republicans depart after a conference meeting where they held a secret ballot vote on whether to drop Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan out of the race for house Speaker at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 20.
Utah Republican Rep. Blake Moore and fellow House Republicans depart after a meeting where they held a secret ballot vote on whether to drop Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan out of the race for House speaker on Oct. 20. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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Over the 17 days since Republicans ousted their own leadership in the House of Representatives, the party has not only failed to choose a new leader, but it has also become more fractious and dysfunctional.

“We are in a very bad place,” former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said Friday.

The vacuum has left the lower chamber of Congress paralyzed and unable to function for three weeks, and on Friday they were no closer to a resolution of the problem.

Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio was cast aside by members of his own party after three days of fruitless attempts to strong arm his way into the speaker position.

So now what?

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan walks to the House speakers office after a second round of voting for a new speaker of the House ended with Jordan once again failing to win the speakers gavel at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 18.
Rep. Jim Jordan walks to the House speaker's office after a second round of voting for a new speaker of the House ended with Jordan once again failing to win the speaker's gavel at the Capitol on Oct. 18, 2023. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

It’s back to square one

Republicans, who control the House but have a very narrow majority, left D.C. Friday afternoon after Jordan lost a private vote on whether he should remain their nominee as speaker.

The vote was 112 against Jordan, and 86 for him. He needed a majority to remain the party’s internal choice for speaker. To be elected speaker, a nominee must win the majority of the full House.

Immediately, other Republicans said they would run for speaker. Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma was one of the first to declare he would run. Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia was another quick out of the gate. Soon after that, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said he too would run.

Several other Republicans said they may put their name in the ring, ahead of a candidate forum expected for Monday. One big question will be whether McCarthy, the California Republican who was pushed aside a few weeks ago, is called on again to return to the job.

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks with Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 20.
Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks with Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 20. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The clock is ticking

The GOP cannot drag its feet forever. The government will shut down in mid-November if Congress does not pass a funding bill.

The Republican Party’s total collapse in the House means that the Senate — which is controlled by Democrats — will be in the driver’s seat when it comes to what that funding bill looks like.

A group of eight Republicans who worked to oust McCarthy did so because he failed to get a funding bill through the House with only Republican votes. Republicans could not agree on the specifics of the bill, forcing McCarthy to work with Democrats to pass funding legislation and avoid a government shutdown.

President Biden is also planning to submit a request for $100 billion in emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine next week. The Senate will have almost total control over what gets into that package and what does not, thanks to the circus in the House.

Speaker of the House Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry departs after his fellow Republicans abandoned a backup plan to allow the leaderless chamber to resume business with McHenry remaining in his position until January, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 19.
Speaker of the House Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry departs after his fellow Republicans abandoned a backup plan to allow the leaderless chamber to resume business with McHenry remaining in his position until January, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 19. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Can Republicans get their act together?

Nobody knows. If a consensus pick doesn’t emerge, they will be back to square one again, which is a place they seem to keep coming back to.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, will remain the speaker pro tempore for now. That means he presides over the chamber but has limited powers.

There has been talk of naming McHenry as temporary or acting speaker if the GOP cannot agree on a candidate. That conversation has been put on the back burner for now while Republicans go through another round of opening up the bidding for a new candidate.

But like the option of reelecting McCarthy, the McHenry option could bubble back up again if the GOP finds itself in another cul-de-sac it can’t stumble out of.