South Florida Republicans vote against Jim Jordan for speaker. ‘I’m not changing my vote.’

Two of the holdouts against elevating hard right U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as speaker of the House are from South Florida.

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Miami-Dade Republican, voted for U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, of Louisiana, for speaker on the first round on Tuesday afternoon.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, also a Miami-Dade County Republican, voted for the ousted speaker, Kevin McCarthy, of California, to return to the job.

Diaz-Balart is the longest serving member of Congress from Florida. CNN reported that Diaz-Balart said he would continue to support Scalise.

“You can remember we had an election; the guy who won was the guy who I was with,” he said.

The New York Times reported that Diaz-Balart warned that any attempts to pressure him would backfire. “I will not be pressured or intimidated.”

Scalise initially won a majority of Republicans behind closed doors to win the party nomination for speaker, but Jordan supporters said they wouldn’t support him, and he dropped out.

“Look, I want Kevin McCarthy to be the symbol of us. He was our leader,” Gimenez said in an interview on CNN shortly after the vote, after the Republicans recessed the House to consider what they’d do next.

Gimenez said he would like to “go back in time and rectify the injustice that was done two weeks ago” when McCarthy was removed as speaker. “My vote is with Kevin McCarthy, and it has been. I’ve been very direct. I’m there, I’m still there. I’m not changing my vote. I think that … Jim Jordan has a really steep hill to climb, and I don’t think that hill has just gotten any less difficult.”

While repeatedly saying he wants McCarthy to return, he also said there are other Republicans — besides Jordan — who would make good speakers. He declined to name any potential candidates.

Gimenez, the former mayor of Miami-Dade County, said the 20 Republicans who voted for someone other than Jordan could grow. Some of his colleagues, Gimenez said, indicated they were with Jordan for one round. “But after that, they’re kind of like a free agent.”

Until Republicans coalesce around a consensus for speaker, Diaz-Balart and Gimenez said they think the interim speaker, U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., should be given expanded powers so the House can conduct business.

“We’re not gonna do anything for a month, two months? That doesn’t make any sense and no organization works that way. We need to rectify that,” Gimenez said.

“I would hope that my fellow Republicans and actually the entire Congress sees that there is a need to put somebody … expanded powers to conduct the people’s business,” he said.

Diaz-Balart said it would be a “very prudent and smart move” to give McHenry more power, the New York Times reported.

Republicans have a majority, but it is slim, and near unanimity is required for them to elect a speaker.

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Republican who represents Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties, was absent on the first vote. The Wall Street Journal said Bilirakis, a Jordan supporter, missed the vote because his mother-in-law had died. He was expected to fly to Washington and arrive around 6 p.m., a spokeswoman told the Journal.

All other Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach county representatives voted with the majorities in their party.

U.S. Reps. Brian Mast, who represents northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, and Maria Salazar, from Miami-Dade County, voted for Jordan.

Democrats Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Frederica Wilson voted for the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, for speaker.