Rep. Jordan picking up high-profile GOP endorsements as House speaker floor vote approaches

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan says he's "real close" to securing enough votes to win House speakership ballot, with a final vote for all House members expected Tuesday.

He picked up some high profile endorsements on Monday from GOP members who did not support him in the House GOP conference secret ballot vote, including Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul and Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Other members including Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., endorsed Jordan on Monday.

He still faces some opposition from GOP House members like Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who have vowed to support McCarthy on the first ballot of voting on the House floor for speaker. 

There are currently 2 vacancies so a maximum of 433 members are expected to vote -- 221 Republicans and 212 Democrats.

The Ohio lawmaker and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee will need 217 votes to become the next speaker.

Jordan has been calling and meeting with GOP lawmakers to generate support for his speaker candidacy in the hopes of securing the simple majority.

Jordan won the nomination at a GOP conference meeting Friday but needed to pick up about 60 more votes to win during the vote before the full House.

"I feel real good about the momentum we have and I think we're real close," Jordan told reporters Monday on Capitol Hill. "We'll go to the floor tomorrow. It's not about pressing anybody, it's just about we've got to have a speaker."

The House has been without a speaker for nearly two weeks.

Former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Monday that he thinks Jordan can win on the House floor Tuesday. 

Jordan wrote a letter to his colleagues on Monday ahead of the expected floor vote. He pledged to unite the Republican conference.

"The role of a Speaker is to bring all Republicans together. That’s what I intend to do," he wrote in the letter. "I will tirelessly work to defend and expand our majority and and help every Republican member back at home."

Jordan told his colleagues that the "principles that unite us as Republicans are far greater than the disagreements that divide us."

"The country and our conference cannot afford us attacking each other right now. It is time we unite to get back to work on behalf of the American people," he wrote.