House GOP calls it a night as Jim Jordan faces staunch opposition for speaker

With his speaker’s bid in limbo, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) scrambled Tuesday afternoon to garner more support, but he ultimately delayed the second vote until Wednesday, a sign that he is struggling to gain additional votes.

Jordan failed to get the 217 votes necessary to become speaker on the first ballot after 20 Republicans voted against him. The Ohio Republican then spent the hours after the failed vote trying to game-plan a way to win over the holdouts.

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“I fully expect the D.C. cartel to increase their no votes against Jim Jordan tomorrow because they are being hammered by the K Street lobbyists,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) said. “That said, in January, I went 15 rounds in the speaker fight. For Jim, I’ll go a hundred rounds.”

After the first vote, the original plan was to try and come back for a second round of votes around 6 p.m. after Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), a Jordan supporter, returned from a funeral. However, it became evident that if Jordan were to bring the vote to the floor, he would face more opposition, so they pushed it to 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

But there is skepticism about this tactic of delaying the vote, with two GOP members telling the Washington Examiner they don’t think it will help him.

Many of the holdouts are pretty dug in and aren’t giving any sign they plan on changing.

Alex Brandon/AP

Some of them have policy objections. For example, the New York Republicans who voted against him want a commitment to focus on state and local tax deductions, and the appropriators who voted against him are worried about Jordan’s position on government spending.

Some of the holdouts voted for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was the original nominee for speaker but withdrew from the race after several Jordan supporters tanked his nomination by saying they wouldn’t vote for him. This angered Scalise’s allies, who, in return, pledged never to support Jordan.

“We had an election last week, the first election we had, Steve Scalise was our speaker designate,” Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), who voted for Scalise on the floor, said Monday. “I just don’t understand, if it doesn’t go your way on the first vote, how these people could go into that conference and talk about what a great team they have when they turn their back on the exact rules that we have. That doesn’t make sense.”

Jordan met with Scalise after the vote and tried to ask him to help with whipping his supporters, a source familiar said the Louisiana Republican declined.

This characterization of the meeting was met with immediate pushback from Scalise’s team, who denied that had happened during the meeting.

“Leader Scalise has been the only candidate throughout this process who has publicly declared he will be supportive of whomever the conference nominates for Speaker, and his position has not changed,” a spokesperson for Scalise said. “He voted for Jim Jordan on the floor and will continue to do so.”

The characterization of the meeting was also not taken well among Scalise allies, even the ones who had voted for Jordan on the floor.

Now, the likelihood of Scalise helping Jordan win over the majority leader’s allies on the House floor is slim.

“Scalise said he’d be open to it despite the fact Jordan would only commit to supporting Scalise for one ballot. But why would he now when Jordan is in the press lying about a meeting he had with Scalise and claiming Scalise won’t support him when Scalise from day one has said he’d vote for Jordan, did, and still will?” a Republican source familiar with the matter said.

Jordan also faces the likelihood that some members who voted for him on the floor on the first ballot will not support him on the second.

“I supported him like I said I would on the first one, and if there’s other candidates or other things going on, we’ll go from there,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), a centrist who voted for Jordan but is now noncommittal to supporting him on a second ballot.

Another member who was originally opposed to Jordan but flipped and supported him on the floor, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), said he was “evaluating” everything right now and would not commit to supporting Jordan again.

After the meeting with Scalise, Jordan met with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) for about an hour.

As he left Emmer’s office, Jordan said he felt confident that he could get the votes necessary to become speaker.

“We’re making progress. I feel good about it. We’re going to keep going,” Jordan said. “We’ve had great discussions. Frankly, in our conference, nobody wants to see a coalition government with Democrats.”

But, talks to work with Democrats are already underway.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) urged centrist Republicans to drop their support for Jordan and instead work with Democrats to advance a candidate that could win the support of both parties. He said that he expects the talks between centrist Republicans and Democrats to “accelerate” throughout the night on Tuesday.

“Our focus right now relates not just to any one individual but to getting the institution reopened,” Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday. “I have respect for Patrick McHenry. I think he is respected on our side of the aisle. There are a whole host of other Republicans who are respected on our side of the aisle. Jim Jordan is not one of them.”

There is also the idea of giving Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) more power by taking a vote on the House floor to extend his time in the position and expand his powers.

There is a real possibility that McHenry does receive expanded powers, according to one GOP member. This would happen by bringing a resolution to the floor and having the full House vote on it.

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“This other proposal, which would be to have the House Republican conference vote on the House floor to extend the term of the speaker pro temp and have all the appropriate powers of the House in order to take care of the business we have before us, is an important alternative,” the member said.

When asked about this, McHenry wouldn’t entertain the idea and said the main focus should be on electing a Republican speaker.