CNN — Conservative Republican Rep. Jim Jordan fell significantly short of winning the House speaker’s gavel on a first ballot Tuesday, leaving the House in paralysis after 20 Republicans opposed the Ohio Republican.
The vote, in which Jordan failed to secure a majority of the full House, was a disappointment for Jordan’s allies who had expressed hopes that the number of holdouts would be in the single digits.
Immediately after the vote, the House went into recess, giving Jordan time to try to convince his opponents – a group of GOP moderates and allies of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise – to change their votes.
The 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan included House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger of Texas, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and a quartet of New York Republicans in purple districts.
The anti-Jordan contingent cast six votes for McCarthy, seven votes for Scalise and three for former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, among other alternatives.
It’s now been two weeks of high-stakes chaos over the speaker’s gavel following the unprecedented ouster of McCarthy. The House’s slim margin is what led to McCarthy’s removal at the hands of a band of eight GOP rebels – and now a similarly sized group of House Republicans could block Jordan’s ascension, too.
In January, 19 Republicans initially voted against McCarthy for speaker, before he eventually won a majority and the gavel after 15 votes. Jordan hasn’t signaled how long he plans to take his push to become speaker. After the first vote, Jordan was meeting with members in the GOP cloakroom off the House floor.
“I feel really good,” Jordan told CNN just before the vote. “Whatever it takes to get a speaker today.”
Jordan and his allies felt they had made significant headway over the past several days, with the Ohio Republican pitching skeptical lawmakers one on one – and his allies outside Congress attacking the holdouts and threatening political consequences if they stand against a favorite of the Trump-aligned GOP base.
Until the House selects a speaker, the chamber is in a legislative paralysis, unable to consider legislation, such as passing additional military aid to Israel or government funding – with the threat of a shutdown just a month away thanks to McCarthy’s six-week stopgap spending deal that prompted the move against him.
If another vote is held, at least one of Jordan’s opponents said he would flip – though others could opt against sticking with the Ohio Republican.
