Rep. Jim Jordan, a conservative Republican, postponed a second speaker’s vote on Tuesday night as he worked behind the scenes to attempt to sway the 20 Republicans who had earlier voted against him.
The Ohio Republican has set a second vote for speaker for 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday in the hopes that his support would rise despite steadfast opposition.
Jordan’s supporters expressed disappointment at the level of GOP opposition to Jordan during the speaker’s vote on Tuesday, which was held exactly two weeks after the House removed Kevin McCarthy. They had hoped that there would only be a small number of holdouts.
Representatives Ken Buck of Colorado, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Kay Granger of Texas, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, and four Republicans from purple-colored districts in New York are among the 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan. The group that opposed Jordan also voted for former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin with three votes, Majority Leader Steve Scalise with seven votes, and McCarthy with six votes.
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Jordan’s rivals hail from a variety of groups. In addition to lawmakers still enraged at the small group of Republicans who forced out McCarthy and later opposed the nomination of Scalise as speaker, who initially defeated Jordan inside the GOP conference, 113 to 99, there are centrist Republicans who worry that the face of the House GOP would be a conservative hardliner.
Jordan was opposed by seven members of the House Appropriations Committee, which has battled Jordan’s resistance to spending legislation for years.
Four GOP votes are all Jordan can afford to lose. Due to the razor-thin margin, eight GOP rebels forced McCarthy out of the House; at this point, a large number of House Republicans might also stop Jordan from taking Jordan’s seat.
After the first vote, the House adjourned, and Jordan held meetings in the speaker’s and majority whip’s offices before announcing the next vote would take place on Wednesday.
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Jordan had a meeting with Scalise. According to a source who spoke to CNN, Scalise refused to agree to give Jordan a nomination statement on the floor before the first vote. According to a Scalise spokesman, Jordan has had his support throughout the procedure.
Several Jordan holdouts expressed willingness to change their ballots, and one said he would back the Ohio Republican on the next ballot. However, a number of Jordan’s detractors stated they would not be persuaded, and according to GOP insiders, the resistance might intensify because several members only pledged to support him on the first ballot.
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