Emmer, Donalds, Hern jump into House speaker race after GOP removes Jordan from contention

The House GOP conference's secret ballot vote to remove Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as speaker-designate has already drawn seven additional contenders ahead of a candidate forum scheduled for Monday evening.

Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, lost in 3 rounds of voting for House speaker. The most recent ballot took place on Friday. The next House GOP conference speaker election is scheduled to take place at 9am on Tuesday. 

Just the News has learned from people familiar with the process that prospective speaker candidates have until noon on Sunday to file for the spot. The House is scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday at 11am. 

“We need to come together and figure out who our speaker is going to be," Jordan said at a news conference following the vote. "I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people.”

Prior to Jordan's removal, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., dropped out of the running after winning the speaker nomination at the conference level.

House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla. and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, have declared their intention to run for speaker now that Jordan is no longer the GOP speaker nominee. 

Reps. Mike Johnson, R-La., Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Jack Bergman, R-Mich., have also entered the race. Scott had challenged Jordan for speaker after Scalise dropped out.

Donalds, who started in the House in 2021, is the newest member of Congress among that group of contenders and the youngest at 44. Hern, 61, started in 2018, Emmer, 62, began his House career in 2015 and Sessions, 68, served in the House in 1997 through 2019 and was elected again 2020. Scott, 53, started his House career in 2011. Johnson, 51, came to the House in 2017, and Bergman, 76, has also been in the House since 2017.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced the motion to vacate the chair that led to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's removal on Oct. 3. In total, eight conservative Republicans and all House Democrats voted for the motion.

The House has been without a speaker for more than 2 weeks.

McCarthy endorsed Jordan for speaker but since his removal as speaker-designate, McCarthy is now getting behind Emmer.

Given that Emmer holds one of the top House leadership positions as majority whip, he might struggle to garner support from the same conservatives who voted to oust McCarthy. 

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., one of the Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy, had floated Hern's name as a potential replacement for McCarthy after his ouster.

Donalds, as a member of the House Freedom Caucus, could also receive substantial support from some of the more conservative members of the conference.

Sessions is pitching himself as a “conservative leader who can unite the conference.”

Unless there are changes in the House GOP conference rules, the winning candidate needs only a majority of GOP House members in the secret ballot vote. However, on the full House floor, the speaker nominee needs a simple majority of members, which is currently 217 due to seat vacancies.

McCarthy, whose speaker election in January lasted 15 rounds, has noted that "it's very difficult to get to 217" given the slim GOP House majority.

The California Republican had to make a series of concessions and rule changes to clinch the speakership. One of those changes included allowing one member of Congress to introduce a motion to vacate the chair.

It is unclear if any of the four declared candidates would be able to garner 217 Republican votes on the House floor. Currently, there are only 221 Republican House seats.