GOP Rep. Jim Jordan fails to get enough votes for House speaker

(NewsNation) — Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio failed to gain enough Republican votes to become the next House Speaker during the first round of voting Tuesday.

There were 432 House members present on the floor. Jordan’s spokesman, Russel Dye, said earlier in the day people could expect another vote Tuesday, but his officer later confirmed this would not be the case and the plan was for another vote Wednesday.

“The House needs a speaker as soon as possible,” Dye said. “It’s time for Republicans to come together.”

While most Republicans were trying to elect Jordan, a number of GOP members held out, as some say the ally of former President Donald Trump is too extreme. The Ohio representative was more than 50 votes short of clinching the speaker title during an internal party vote last Friday.

Congressman Carlos Giménez, from Florida, spoke with NewsNation about his support for former Speaker McCarthy and the impact of forcing him out, saying he doesn’t want to reward “bad behavior” by going with Jordan.

“If this is successful, then look for something else to happen here before the end of the session,” Giménez said.

However, some previous opponents have flipped in favor of Jordan as he’s made phone calls and held meetings behind closed doors. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz, had been waiting to announce a decision, but said Tuesday morning he would vote for Jordan, NewsNation partner The Hill writes.

Jordan needs almost the full majority of Republicans to back him as Democrats supported their own nominee: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a representative from New York. A total of 217 votes are necessary for Jordan to win the speakership — but in the first ballot Tuesday, he only received 200. Jeffries, meanwhile, got 212.

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik nominated Jordan Tuesday, saying he is “strategic, scrappy, tough and principled” and will be the “people’s speaker” at a time of crisis in America.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California, nominated Jeffries. Aguilar said Jeffries is the only one who can lead the chamber out of chaos, and said voting for Jordan, “the architect of a nationwide abortion ban, a vocal election denier and an insurrection insider” would be a terrible message to this country.

Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the party’s first nominee to replace McCarthy, decided not to vie for the speakership after Jordan’s allies refused to vote for him, though a few Republicans still did Tuesday. Scalise voted for Jordan, as did McCarthy.

Before the vote, Jordan wrote a letter to his fellow House GOP colleagues, asking for unity around him as speaker. Republicans can’t spend any more time fighting among each other, he said.

“We may not always agree on every issue or every bill, and that’s alright. We don’t march in lockstep like our Democrat colleagues,” Jordan wrote. “The country and our conference cannot afford us attacking each other right now.”

McCarthy himself weighed in on the House speaker race on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

“My prediction → @Jim_Jordan will be the 56th Speaker of the House,” McCarthy wrote.

Trump agreed with this assessment of Jordan’s chances. He told reporters during a break in court proceedings in his fraud trial that Jordan is a “fantastic young man.”

“I think he’s going to be confirmed sometime soon,” Trump said.

It’s a critical time for Congress — as they’ve been without a permanent speaker, all House business has ground to a halt, and lawmakers were only narrowly able to avert a threatened government shutdown by voting to keep agencies open until Nov. 17.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., is currently acting as a temporary speaker. Two Democratic sources told NewsNation that there have been very preliminary but serious discussions behind closed doors about empowering McHenry temporarily to keep the government open, and allow aid to go to Ukraine and Israel.

NewsNation’s Courtney Han and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story is developing. Refresh for updates.