Jim Jordan temporarily abandons campaign for speaker of the House

19 October 2023

Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the House Republican Conference's designee for speaker of the House, is temporarily giving up on his efforts to capture the speaker's gavel.

According a post on X (formerly Twitter) from Washington Post reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell, Jordan will not seek a third ballot in the House, after failing on the first two ballots to capture the 217 votes needed to win the chair. He is instead backing a resolution to temporarily empower House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) to preside over the body until January 3, 2024.

Jordan will, however, remain the conference's speaker designee, suggesting the Ohio Republican may try again in early 2024 to become speaker. According to a post on X from CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju, Jordan "wants time to win speaker election but let House reopen." Even though Jordan is apparently backing the resolution to temporarily empower McHenry, Raju's post suggested that the idea was divisive within the House Republican Conference. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida), who opposed Jordan's bid, told Raju the idea was a "big problem" for other Republicans.

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As temporary speaker, McHenry would have the power to bring the House of Representatives back to regular order, so it can pass legislation. Appropriations for the ongoing war in Ukraine and the current Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza will both require action from the House in order to become law.

As of this writing, it's not known whether or not Democrats will back the resolution empowering McHenry. However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said he holds McHenry in higher esteem than Jordan.

"I have respect for Patrick McHenry, I think he is respected on all sides of the aisle, there are a whole host of other Republicans who are respected on all sides of the aisle. Jim Jordan is not one of them," Jeffries told CNN.

As House Republicans' speaker designee, Jordan failed to capture a majority vote on the first ballot on Tuesday, with 18 Republicans defecting and instead supporting candidates like former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), among others. The number of defections grew to 20 on Wednesday. Given Republicans' slim majority, Jordan could only afford three defections.

The House has been without a speaker since October 4, when McCarthy became the first speaker in American history to be ousted from the position in a motion to vacate supported by members of his own party. the last time there was a motion to vacate a sitting speaker was in 1910 (the speaker in question, Republican Rep. Joseph Cannon, survived).

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