Rep Jim Jordan’s speakership bid is in trouble after a whopping 20 House Republicans voted against him in the first vote.
Going into the initial ballot on Tuesday (17 October), Mr Jordan had appeared to be turning the tide in terms of garnering support from within his own party.
Over the weekend, he picked up establishment support and, on Monday, also gained allies in appropriators and members of the Armed Services Committee who had initially appeared hesitant to back him because of his legislative record.
But when the vote took place, it slowly became clear that Mr Jordan was still far from taking the gavel.
He received the GOP nomination for the speakership on Friday (13 October) following Majority Leader Steve Scalise‘s failure of to gather the support he needed. Mr Scalise chose to end his bid before bringing it to a floor vote.
This comes two weeks after the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy when eight House Republicans voted with all the Democrats to remove him from the post after just nine months.
Back in January, it took 15 rounds of voting for Mr McCarthy to become speaker.
Who’s next in line?
If Mr Jordan is unable to grasp the House speaker gavel, a number of Republicans have mentioned Louisiana Rep Mike Johnson as a possible next option.
The vice chair of the Republican conference, 51, has been floated alongside Majority Whip Tom Emmer, 62, who has spent the last half-decade in the leadership, with most of his time going to chairing the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).
While Mr Emmer has some backers on the right of the party, large parts of the Trump wing aren’t as supportive, Punchbowl News noted.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy may start believing in an unlikely comeback if the speaker race doesn’t come to a resolution this week. This would require at least four of the eight members who voted against him to flip.
Many GOP members have told the press that their party is so divided that no candidate can get 217 votes from the party, meaning that votes from Democrats may be required to get over the line.
But there have been no major discussions between the parties and the Democrats would use their leverage to push for major concessions, and it’s unclear what a deal would look like.
Any member of the chamber could simply step onto the floor when the House opens and put forward a privileged resolution to strengthen and widen the powers of the temporary speaker, Rep Patrick McHenry of North Carolina.
The McCarthy ally and famed gavel-slammer could also be elected as the permanent speaker.
Other candidates in the mix include Rep Jodey Arrington of Texas, Rep Mark Green of Florida, and Rep Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, but none of these are likely to get to 217 votes, according to Punchbowl.
