Rep. Austin Scott and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan set to battle for speaker

House Republicans are going to have their second candidate forum of the week at 1 p.m. with the two Republican candidates running for speaker of the House: Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).

They are expected to vote on a nominee following the forum, but the exact schedule is still up in the air.

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Jordan ran against House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) earlier in the week but lost 113-99. However, Scalise dropped out of the race on Thursday after it became clear he couldn’t get the 217 votes necessary to become speaker on the floor.

While Jordan is still considered the front-runner, the path to 217 is pretty narrow as there are a number of members who don’t support him and have said they never will. For example, House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said there was nothing Jordan could say or do to win his vote.

“There is a math problem for Jordan,” one GOP member said. “It’s more an algebraic equation that will take a lot of time to complete.”

There are also other members who are noncommittal on Jordan because of how his supporters tanked Scalise’s bid.

“I’m concerned that we had a bunch of Jordan supporters who refused to help out Steve yesterday after Steve rightfully won,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said. “It’s not right. It’s a violation of our rules, and when you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. So I struggle with that.”

Scott, who is from rural Georgia, has been one of Jordan’s most vocal opponents during the entire speaker process, saying Thursday night that he would never vote for him. He’s relatively unknown nationally but recently has spoken out against the chaos he says was caused by eight hard-line conservative members who ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

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“I have filed to be speaker of the House. We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,” Scott said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

One House GOP aide said that they are hearing about “growing support for Austin Scott” within the Republican conference.