Combative right-wing Republican Jim Jordan failed to win a first vote on Tuesday to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, but more votes were expected to follow that could wear down his opponents.
The Ohio lawmaker backed by former president Donald Trump won 200 votes, short of the 217 needed to win the job, as 20 of his fellow Republican voted against him. All 212 Democrats voted for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries.
The loss means that for now the House remains leaderless, as it has been since a handful of Republican hardliners engineered Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as Speaker two weeks ago. That has left Congress unable to respond to wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, with just a month to go before the U.S. government faces another partial shutdown deadline.
Jordan said the next Speaker vote will be on Wednesday morning. It was not clear whether he would pick up more support or see his opposition grow. McCarthy never got less than 200 votes in 15 rounds over four days in January.
“Even Pope Francis, it took him five ballots to get elected,” said Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis. “So let’s just see how the rest of the day goes.”
If Jordan prevails, a conservative who has spent years fighting with leaders of his own party could end up in one of the most powerful jobs in Washington, putting him second in line for the presidency behind the vice-president.
Republicans did not nominate another candidate, but that did not stop his opponents from voting for someone else. Many of them are moderates who represent politically competitive districts, while others specialize in negotiating the complex spending bills that keep the U.S. government running, deals that typically require a willingness to compromise.
Seven Republicans voted for Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican whose own bid for speaker fell apart last week, and six voted for McCarthy. Three Republicans voted for Lee Zeldin, who retired from Congress in January, while Republican Reps. Tom Cole, Tom Emmer, Thomas Massie and Mike Garcia got one vote each.
McCarthy and Scalise both voted for Jordan.
Four Republicans from the New York City area said they voted against Jordan because he opposed benefits for survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as well as tax policies and disaster aid that would help their residents.
Others have objected to high-pressure tactics by conservatives to get them to fall in line. “I will not be pressured or intimidated,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who voted for Scalise.
Narrow margin
Republicans control the House by a narrow 221-212 margin, giving them little room for error on divisive votes like this one.
After the vote, Jordan spent time talking with lawmakers who had voted against him on the House floor.
New Republican challengers could emerge if Jordan does not pick up support, including Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, and Patrick McHenry, who is temporarily filling the Speaker’s chair. Jeffries, the Democratic leader, has called for a bipartisan compromise.
Featured VideoKevin McCarthy has been ousted as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after a history-making vote led by fellow Republican Matt Gaetz. Kieran Oudshoorn breaks down how the pair’s tumultuous relationship led to this point.
Jordan’s supporters say he would be an effective advocate for spending cuts and other Republican priorities in negotiations with Democratic President Joe Biden and the Senate, which is also controlled by Democrats.
“He is a patriot, an America First warrior who wins the toughest of fights,” Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said as she nominated Jordan for Speaker on the House floor.
Democrats have painted him as an extremist who would take orders from Trump. Jordan was a “significant player” in efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat, a congressional investigation found.
Jim Jordan is a MAGA extremist. <br><br>He led the fight to overturn the 2020 election, and now wants to criminalize abortion and slash Social Security and Medicare. <br><br>He’s unfit to lead the People’s House.<a href=”https://t.co/OrurbTuG9V”>pic.twitter.com/OrurbTuG9V</a>
—@HouseDemocrats
Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar said on the House floor that Jordan’s election would show the U.S.’s enemies that “the very people who seek to undermine democracy are rewarded with positions of immense power. We are talking about someone who has spent their entire career trying to hold our country back.”
A fixture on conservative media outlets, Jordan has used his perch as chair of the House Judiciary Committee to help lead an impeachment inquiry into Biden that Democrats decry as baseless.
He helped found the House Freedom Caucus, which then-Speaker John Boehner dubbed “legislative terrorists” before members of that group pressured him to retire. Jordan was an architect of government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018.
Jordan had a more productive relationship with McCarthy, who was forced out by a small group of Republican insurgents.
Before entering politics, Jordan served as a wrestling coach at Ohio State University. Former students in 2018 accused him of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse of college wrestlers by the wrestling team’s doctor. He denied those allegations and a university investigation found no hard evidence that he knew of the abuse.