Rep Jim Jordan is refusing to drop his speakership bid even after losing two votes on the floor of the House.
“We got 200 votes. We picked up some today, a couple of them dropped off but they voted for me before, I think they’ll come back again. So we’ll keep talking to members, keep working on it,” Mr Jordan told the press, according to Politico.
On Wednesday, 22 Republicans voted against Mr Jordan – up from 20 on Tuesday. 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.
Reps Victoria Spartz and Doug LaMalfa both voted for Mr Jordan after not supporting him on the first ballot.
Rep Gus Bilirakis didn’t attend the vote on Tuesday but showed up on Wednesday to back Mr Jordan.
The vote totals were 199 for Mr Jordan and 212 for Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Mr Jordan received the GOP nomination for the speakership on Friday 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 more than 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.
These are the Republicans who didn’t vote for Mr Jordan in the second ballot on Wednesday:
- Rep Don Bacon voted for Mr McCarthy
- Rep Vern Buchanan voted for Rep Byron Donalds (Flipped to vote against Mr Jordan on second ballot)
- Rep Ken Buck voted for Rep Tom Emmer
- Rep Lori Chavez-DeRemer voted for Mr McCarthy
- Rep Anthony D’Esposito voted for former Rep Lee Zeldin, the 2022 New York GOP gubernatorial nominee.
- Rep Mario Diaz-Balart voted for Mr Scalise
- Rep Jake Ellzey voted for Rep Mike Garcia
- Rep Drew Ferguson voted for Mr Scalise (Flipped)
- Rep Andrew Garbarino voted for Mr Zeldin
- Rep Carlos Gimenez voted for Mr McCarthy
- Rep Tony Gonzales voted for Mr Scalise
- Rep Kay Granger voted for Mr Scalise
- Rep John James voted for Candice Miller, the Public Works Commissioner of Macomb County, Michigan
- Rep Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania voted for former Speaker John Boehner
- Rep Jen Kiggans voted for Mr McCarthy
- Rep Mike Lawler voted for Mr McCarthy
- Rep Nick LaLota voted for Mr Zeldin
- Rep Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted for Ms Granger (Flipped)
- Rep John Rutherford voted for Mr Scalise
- Rep Mike Simpson voted for Mr Scalise
- Rep Pete Stauber voted for Rep Bruce Westerman (Flipped)
- Rep Steve Womack voted for Mr Scalise