Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is trying to force a floor vote on Tuesday, is reportedly in talks with several other House Republicans to prevent him from becoming speaker.
If the Ohio Republican forces a roll-call vote on Tuesday, one senior Republican House member who is opposed to Jordan told HEADLINESFOREVER that he believes there are roughly 40 “no” votes and that he has personally spoken to 20 members who are willing to go to the floor and block Jordan’s path.
I’ve spoken with around 20 other members, and they all agree that we need to be ready in case something happens. We can’t have a vocal minority dictate to the rest of the group. They aim to control the majority by a small faction, but I’m not going to let that happen.
Another GOP insider with knowledge of the situation, however, claimed that Jordan has had encouraging meetings with members and is certain that he will be chosen speaker of the House on Tuesday night. According to an email from House Minority Whip Katherine Clark received by HEADLINESFOREVER, a vote for the next speaker of the House is scheduled for Tuesday at noon.
According to the GOP source, Jordan is considering holding multiple votes on the floor if they become necessary.
Monday night, Republicans are planning a closed-door meeting.
Still, Jordan faces considerable pushback. The Republican lawmaker claims that some of his colleagues are not on board with Jordan and are not willing to back him, while others are still bitter about the hardliners’ ouster of Kevin McCarthy and the downfall of Majority Leader Steve Scalise and do not want to reward those moves by voting for Jordan, their preferred candidate.
For every firm “no” I can think of, I can think of many more.The Republican member emphasised that we must not encourage such conduct. To paraphrase, “We can’t let a small group be dictators.”
After Scalise withdrew his nomination for speaker last week, the Republican conference selected Jordan. After being chosen as the nominee by the conference, Scalise ultimately withdrew after more than a dozen Republicans announced they would not support for him in the second speaker vote.
Now Jordan is facing the same challenge from Republicans who are upset about McCarthy’s removal and from a small group of the conference who are refusing to support Scalise despite the fact that he won the initial vote. After Jordan was nominated, the Republican conference held a second, secret vote on whether or not to back him on the floor. There were 55 Republican “no” votes.
Due to the two open seats in the House of Representatives, a candidate for speaker must receive a simple majority of the 217 votes cast. If every Democrat backs House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, then Jordan or any other Republican contender can afford to lose only four GOP votes on the floor.
To try to expose the detractors, some of Jordan’s supporters have pushed for votes on the floor. Jordan is a Republican from Ohio. However, Texas Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw blasted his party colleagues who are planning a public pressure campaign in support of Jordan’s speakership, calling it “the dumbest thing you can do.”
“That is the dumbest way to support Jordan,” Crenshaw told Jake Tapper on HEADLINESFOREVER’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. If you want Jim Jordan, the worst thing you can do is further entrench those folks you’ve already angered.