Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) lost a third bid for House Speaker Friday after reports that he was considering endorsing Speaker Pro Tem Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) as interim speaker for the rest of the year. The third denial likely means that Jordan will not become a speaker in 2023.
The Friday morning vote saw 25 Republicans not supporting Jordan, an increase over the first two votes. This left the Ohio Republican with 194 votes, or 23 short of that needed to be speaker. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 210 votes for speaker, all from Democrats.
“Our plan this weekend is to get a speaker elected to the House of Representatives soon as possible, so we can help the American people,” Jordan said.
“We’ve got important work to do, important work to do. We need to help Israel. We need to get the appropriations process moving so that the key elements of our government are funded and funded in the right way, particularly our military,” he continued.
The vote Friday came after multiple reports that Jordan would not seek a third effort to become speaker. Media reports indicated that Jordan was likely going to back McHenry in a temporary role, instead.
A total of 22 House Republicans voted against Jordan becoming speaker in the second vote, with a mixture of votes for others, including former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
.@Jim_Jordan has passed more legislation through the House in the last 3 years than the entire Democrat leadership team with their collective 28 years in Congress. pic.twitter.com/vCQCTSVPkP
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) October 20, 2023
Scalise had originally been nominated by the House Republican caucus to seek the position of speaker. A further vote by House Republicans rescinded their nomination of Jordan Friday.
Similarly, in the Friday vote, Scalise received eight votes, McHenry received six and McCarthy received two.
The House has been without a speaker since the vote to oust McCarthy from the position earlier this month. Eight Republicans joined with House Democrats to force the vote that removed McCarthy, placing McHenry in the temporary position.
Without a speaker, the House of Representatives is limited in its ability to legislate, including on a new spending package to keep the government open expected later this year.
