Washington Examiner’s Byron York says House Republicans voting no for Jordan is ‘almost a statement’

Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Tuesday that House Republicans who are refusing to vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) are making “a statement” over their frustrations.

York argued that the frustrations some Republican lawmakers have are over Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) getting removed from the role of House speaker in the first place and would not let Jordan “sail through on the first ballot.” The McCarthy ouster has left the House of Representatives without a speaker for two weeks now.

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“Maybe they’ll vote for him later,” York said. “Maybe this could change later. But this is almost a statement they are making of how unhappy they are.”

York acknowledged that some of the same representatives who voted no to Jordan in the first round of voting could very well vote for Jordan in future rounds of voting because they will realize they need a speaker to address concerns in the United States. Earlier this year, McCarthy went through 15 rounds of voting before finally getting the role of House speaker.

“So I’m going to look to see if, after a ballot or two, some of them are going to say, ‘Well, we made our point, and now let’s elect Jordan speaker,'” York said.

Jordan failed to gain the gavel after the first round of voting, with 20 Republican lawmakers voting for other candidates, such as McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalize (R-LA), and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 212 votes against Jordan’s 200 votes.

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The House of Representatives is unable to function properly until a new speaker is found. As such, decisions surrounding the U.S., including how to support Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack, are significantly limited.

The search for a new House speaker began earlier this month after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and seven other House Republicans joined Democrats to oust McCarthy from the speakership.