Jordan to make third bid for House speakership after losing 22 Republicans on latest vote

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, failed to garner enough support to win the House speakership in a second round of voting on the House floor Wednesday and the House is expected to reconvene on Thursday for another round.

In the background, a proposal to elevate Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. from speaker pro tempore to speaker of the House for a temporary period of time appears to be gaining steam.

Jordan did not have the support of 20 Republicans on Tuesday and lost the speakership by 17 votes. 

He lost 22 Republican votes on Wednesday, the official tally showed.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, changed her vote and opposed Jordan on the second ballot.

“I have received credible death threats & a barrage of threatening calls. The proper authorities have been notified & my office is cooperating fully,” she said.

In response, Jordan said he condemns such threats.

Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., and Pete Stauber, R-Minn., also voted for Jordan on the first ballot but switched in the second round. Reps. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., and Victoria Spartz, R-Va., moved to Jordan in the second round. 

The House went into recess after the vote and didn’t reconvene.

“We’re going to keep going,” said Russell Dye, Jordan’s spokesperson, after the second ballot.

Some Republicans, such as Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., think Jordan might receive less support on the third ballot. 

There were 433 members in the chamber on Wednesday so Jordan would need a simple majority of 217 to win.

Jordan and his allies have continued their outreach to the GOP holdouts but it appears he still doesn't have enough votes to clinch the speakership.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorsed making Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., speaker of the House temporarily. 

On the social media platform X, former House Speaker John Boehner replied to Gingrich, saying he agreed with that idea.

The proposal was previously floated inside the House GOP conference as a possibility prior to Gingrich and Boehner's endorsement. Not all House Republicans are on board with such a plan so it would need Democrat votes to move forward.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told Just the News on Wednesday that making McHenry speaker for 90 days would be a mistake. 

"They would be creating a Speaker Patrick McHenry for 90 days and during that 90 days will be the very, very important spending bills for the next 12 to 18 months," he said. "And so I think it'd be a mistake."