Rep Jim Jordan backtracked on a pause on his speakership bid on Thursday (19 October), announcing in the afternoon that the members of the House GOP had rejected a temporary solution to empower interim speaker Patrick McHenry until January.
“We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn’t where we’re gonna go. I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go the floor and get the votes and win this race,” he said, according to the Washington Examiner.
According to Punchbowl News, Majority Whip Tom Emmer said: “As I have made very clear over the last few days, we should never allow a Democrat-backed coalition government. Ever. The only coalition we should be looking to build is a Republican coalition uniting all of our conference.”
Republicans coming out of the three-and-a-half-hour conference meeting, which grew emotional at times, said they expected a vote to take place soon but that they wanted to give Mr Jordan more time to speak to the holdouts, CNN reported.
Twenty-two Republicans voted against Mr Jordan on the second ballot – up from 20 on the first. Four members joined the anti-Jordan coalition, while two who voted against him in the first vote went back into the fold to support him.
Some Republicans, led by Rep David Joyce of Ohio, have previously discussed potentially giving Mr McHenry more power so the House could resume deliberation to pass spending bills to avert a government shutdown.
Mr Jordan’s backing of the resolution to empower Mr McHenry prompted an angry reaction from some in the GOP conference. The resolution will likely need at least some backing from across the aisle.
Mr Jordan received the GOP nomination for the speakership on Friday (13 October) following Majority Leader Steve Scalise‘s failure to gather the support he needed. Mr Scalise chose to end his bid before bringing it to a floor vote.
This comes after the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month 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, Mr 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.
