Democratic leadership vows to rescue Johnson as intrigue grows in Capitol

Table Of Content

• Rep. Mike Johnson also considering running for speaker
• Jim Jordan’s effort to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry collapses
• news Alerts
• Next House speaker vote expected at 10 a.m. ET Friday, Jordan's office says
• House Republicans to meet after failed Jordan vote
• Garbarino votes against Jordan
• Emmer calling fellow Republicans about a speaker bid

The Freedom Caucus developed a reputation for rebelling against traditional House Republican leadership and causing intraparty drama. A number of the group's members, for example, issued threats in 2015 to oust John Boehner as speaker of the House, especially because of his bipartisan deals to fund the government and prevent shutdowns. Ultimately, Boehner voluntarily resigned from the post and from Congress that September after months of pressure and opposition from far-right lawmakers.

Rep. Mike Johnson also considering running for speaker

But several of the mainstream Republicans who voted against Mr. Jordan said they were irrevocably opposed to his candidacy, and predicted that opposition to the Ohio Republican would only grow. Many of them said they were emboldened to hold their ground by the pressure campaign that Mr. Jordan’s allies unleashed on them over the weekend to try to get them to cave and support him. The tactics included posting the holdouts’ names and office phone numbers to social media and in some cases running robocalls in their districts. Mr. Jordan said he would keep fighting to secure the majority of votes he needs to become speaker, and spent much of Wednesday afternoon meeting with some of the holdouts. But it was clear after the second ballot that there was no immediate end in sight to the stalemate that has left the House leaderless and in turmoil after two weeks of Republican infighting. Representative Jim Jordan, the hard-line Republican from Ohio, lost a second bid for speaker on Wednesday after running headlong into opposition from a group of mainstream G.O.P. holdouts who vowed to block the ultraconservative from the leadership post.

Jim Jordan’s effort to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry collapses

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Jordan received his law degree from Capital University Law School in Ohio in 2001, the same year he went from being a state representative to a state senator. Some members have also raised the possibility of a consensus candidate if Jordan fails to secure the required support to become speaker. North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy raised McHenry and Reps. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Byron Donalds of Florida as potential "compromise" candidates. Whether he will ultimately have better luck than Scalise in uniting the fractured Republican conference remains to be seen, but a follow-up vote made clear that he has a steep hill to climb. Asked whether they plan to support Jordan in a vote of the full House, 152 GOP members said yes, and 55 said no, according to one lawmaker. Lawmakers like Chip Roy of Texas see the governing wing of the party as being part of the very swamp they're trying to change.

news Alerts

That opens up the door to numerous contenders, starting with McCarthy, Scalise and McHenry if they are interested, along with some House Republicans who are far from household names. Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3 House Republican, has begun making calls about a bid for speaker, according to a person familiar with the matter. Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana is making calls about a potential speaker bid, according to a spokeswoman. Three Republicans from swing districts won by Mr. Biden in 2020 — Representatives Marc Molinaro of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey — abandoned Mr. Jordan after supporting him earlier. Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the Republican whip, began making calls about his bid for speaker, according to a person familiar with his activities.

"And if that means that I support someone that may be more conservative than me and may be a political lightning rod, but I'm willing to do that, especially if he's the only candidate." Five days after the Capitol attack, Trump gave Jordan the presidential medal of freedom. Jim Jordan, the Ohio congressman who is seeking to become House speaker, is a prominent celebrity on the far right of US politics – and a magnet for controversy who a former speaker from his own party once called a “political terrorist”. A controversy that has reemerged with Jordan vying for the speakership dates back to his time as a wrestling coach at The Ohio State University before he became a state legislator.

As Jordan was leaving the GOP conference this afternoon, he told reporters that he “appreciated getting to work with everyone” and expressed urgency to unite the party and find a speaker. Even as Jordan tried to assuage moderates’ concerns, a second floor vote held on Wednesday revealed that opposition had only grown, as 22 Republicans opposed Jordan’s candidacy. By the third vote, on Friday, Jordan lost more support, with 25 House Republicans voting against him. As the current chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jordan has been his caucus' chief investigator of Biden and his family, running probes into both the president and his son Hunter Biden.

Garbarino votes against Jordan

Jordan supporters generally believe he has an advantage in a public vote on the House floor where each member's vote will also be viewed as a test of their loyalty to Trump. It is unclear whether Jordan will fall to the same fate as Scalise, as winning the nomination is far different from winning on the House floor. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Paul Ryan was ousted from House speakership. Former athletes have said he turned a blind eye to abuse perpetrated by Richard Strauss, a doctor, which according to an official report was widely seen as an “open secret”. The abuse sprang into focus decades after it happened, when former students accused physician Richard Strauss of abusing wrestlers and other athletes. An independent investigation conducted by law firm Perkins Coie on behalf of The Ohio State University and released in 2019 alleged Strauss abused at least 177 students while he was a school doctor, including at least 48 wrestlers.

Committees

The House is now in its second week without a leader, leaving one chamber of Congress effectively paralyzed until a speaker is elected. Jordan is a hardline conservative and co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right members who have been a thorn in the side of previous GOP leaders for years. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Ohio Republican is also one of the most vocal defenders of former President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill and is playing a leading role in the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Trump ally Jim Jordan becomes first to announce House speaker bid - NBC News

Trump ally Jim Jordan becomes first to announce House speaker bid.

Posted: Wed, 04 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

A spokesman for Mr. McCarthy said Mr. Emmer had the backing of the former speaker. Republicans have already shown resistance to a temporary solution that would give Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina, who is acting as speaker pro tempore, the authority to run the House for a few months. "I believe we were all put here for a purpose. This next chapter won't be easy, but I know what it takes to fight and I am prepared for the battles that lie ahead. I humbly ask you for your support on this mission to be your Speaker of the House."

I'm Not Over the “Moon” for a Speaker Jordan - Idaho Deserves Better - Mike Simpson

I'm Not Over the “Moon” for a Speaker Jordan - Idaho Deserves Better.

Posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Jordan on Friday defended his actions and repeated his claim that there was fraud in the 2020 election. Jordan's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump is a key concern of one of the most vocal opponents to his speaker bid, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado. During his press conference, Jordan was asked about communications he had with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about ways Mike Pence could, as vice president, stop the certification of the election results. The president's remarks also aimed to put pressure on Congress to approve an emergency funding package that his administration plans to submit Friday. Biden may request $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and a total of $40 billion for Israel, Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border, people familiar with the matter said this week. With Jordan out of the speaker's race, Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., told NBC News after the closed-door House GOP Conference that he plans to run for speaker.

Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, on the other hand, said after the meeting he would “take a look at” voting for Jordan but doubted there would be another floor vote soon. Buchanan backed Jordan for speaker on the first round but flipped on the second ballot yesterday. "Our plan this weekend is to get a speaker elected to the House of Representatives as soon as possible," Jordan told reporters. The move to drop Jordan followed an earlier vote on the House floor that made clear his support was eroding. Jordan won 194 votes in this round, compared to 200 in the first round on Tuesday and 199 in the second on Wednesday. The number of Republicans voting for various non-Jordan protest candidates grew over the course of the three rounds, from 20, to 22, to 25 on Friday.

Still, many lawmakers have grown deeply alarmed about the absence of an elected speaker as wars are raging in Israel and Ukraine and the government is within weeks of shutting down if Congress fails to reach a spending agreement. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told Meet the Press NOW that he received death threats over not voting for Jim Jordan as speaker and described the “painful” meetings among House Republicans. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar gaggled briefly this morning on their way to votes. Jeffries told NBC News he still believes a bipartisan path forward is possible to elect a speaker because “there are still reasonable Republicans on the other side of the aisle” and cited a desire for bipartisan bills to be brought to the floor. So far, six Republican have voted for someone other than Jordan, putting him a path to failing a third time. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who voted for Jordan earlier this week, switched his vote to McHenry.

Following McCarthy’s removal, the House majority leader, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, initially won his conference’s nomination for speaker, but he dropped out of the race last week due to entrenched opposition among hard-right lawmakers. But while Mr. Jordan won the contest, his quest for the speakership still faced serious challenges. A second secret-ballot vote revealed that a sizable chunk of Republicans did not intend to support him on the floor, where he needs 217 votes to win the gavel. It was a continuation of the bitter party infighting that has broken out in recent days, paralyzing the House.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a Jordan ally, was confident that the Ohio Republican could win the gavel on the floor but conceded it could take several rounds of voting. "It's not popular to vote against Jim Jordan on the floor. He has the people's support. So even if he didn't get to 217 on the first round, I think his numbers grow under subsequent rounds." The next step in the process for electing a new speaker involves a vote of the full House, Democrats included. Scalise's nomination never got that far, since he lacked the support among his own members that would have avoided a long, drawn-out floor battle like the kind that preceded McCarthy's election earlier this year. Jordan will require near unanimity among Republican members to overcome united Democratic opposition. And they are clashing with what I would describe as the governing wing of the party.

Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a supporter of Mr. Jordan, said the delay in taking Mr. Jordan’s election to the House floor would ultimately benefit the Ohio Republican. He said it would give the Ohio Republican’s detractors time to go home to their districts and hear from base voters who are loyal to Mr. Trump and would urge support for Mr. Jordan. After a week of turmoil and disarray, Republicans sent their members home for the weekend late Friday afternoon with no resolution and no sense of when the feuding might end. Mr. Jordan hoped to flip enough members for a vote on the House floor on Tuesday, but with G.O.P. lawmakers seemingly unable to reach consensus, it was not clear whether he could succeed. By a vote of 124 to 81, Mr. Jordan defeated Representative Austin Scott of Georgia, a mainstream conservative and an ally of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy who had decided just hours earlier to seek the nomination.

Jordan lost five Republicans before the House, voting alphabetically, reached the names beginning with "F," placing him on the path of losing a third round of votes for speaker. Jordan received even more Republican votes against him — 25 — than he did in earlier rounds, with three more GOP members joining the ranks of the defectors. "Unfortunately, Jim is no longer going to be the nominee. We will have to go back to the drawing board," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster as speaker more than two weeks ago prompted the current stalemate.