Additional voting was postponed as the House hit a standstill, stuck while Jordan works to shore up support from Republican colleagues to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy for the job. Reluctant Republicans are refusing to give the Ohio congressman their votes, viewing him as too extreme for the powerful position, second in line to the presidency after the vice president. Another vote round is expected on Thursday (AEDT).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep working,\u201d Jordan said at the Capitol as evening fell.<\/p>\n
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Jim Jordan failed on the first ballot to win the US House speakership as a group of holdouts delivered a jarring rebuke to the conservative hardliner backed by former President Donald Trump. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Bloomberg<\/cite><\/p>\n It\u2019s been two weeks of angry Republican infighting since McCarthy\u2019s sudden removal by hardliners. The vote for House Speaker, once a formality in Congress, has devolved into another bitter showdown for the gavel. McCarthy himself was picked after 15 rounds of voting in January.<\/p>\n Jordan said after the first vote that he was not surprised by the result and expected to do better in the next round. But the afternoon dragged on with no further votes. \u201cWe feel confident,\u201d he said, ducking into a leadership office.<\/p>\n The tally, with 200 Republicans voting for Jordan and 212 for the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, left no candidate with a clear majority. Twenty Republicans voted for someone else. With Republicans in majority control, Jordan must pick up most of his party foes to win.<\/p>\n House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is urging Republicans to partner with Democrats.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n The holdouts are a mix of pragmatists, ranging from seasoned legislators and committee chairs worried about governing, to newer lawmakers from districts where voters back home prefer President Joe Biden to Trump.<\/p>\n But with public pressure by Trump allies, including Fox News\u2019 Sean Hannity, bearing down on lawmakers, it\u2019s unclear how long the holdouts can last. Jordan swiftly flipped dozens of detractors in a matter of days before the vote, but it was not enough.<\/p>\n \u201cJim Jordan will be a great speaker,\u201d the former president said outside a courthouse in Manhattan, where he is facing business fraud charges. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to have the votes soon, if not today, over the next day or two.\u201d<\/p>\n The political climb has been steep for Jordan, the combative Judiciary Committee chairman and a founding member of the right-flank Freedom Caucus. He is known more as a chaos agent than a skilled legislator, raising questions about how he would lead. Congress faces daunting challenges. It risks a federal shutdown in November if it fails to approve continued funding for the government and increased pressure over Biden\u2019s requests for aid to help Ukraine and Israel in the wars abroad.<\/p>\n Former US president Donald Trump attends his ongoing fraud trial in New York. on Tuesday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n With the House Republican majority narrowly held at 221-212, Jordan can afford to lose only a few votes to reach the 217-majority threshold if there are no further absences.<\/p>\n Jeffries swiftly intervened, declaring it was time for Republicans to partner with Democrats to reopen the House.<\/p>\n Bipartisan groups of lawmakers have been floating ways to operate the House by giving greater power to the interim speaker, Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, or another temporary speaker.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Republicans are unable to function right now,\u201d said Jeffries. He said talks \u201cwould accelerate\u201d between Democrats and Republicans into the evening.<\/p>\n As the sombre roll call was underway, each lawmaker announcing their choice, the holdouts quickly surfaced.<\/p>\n Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, a leader of the centrists, voted for McCarthy, the ousted former speaker. Murmurs rippled through the chamber. Others voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was the party\u2019s first nominee to replace McCarthy before he, too, was rejected by hardliners last week.<\/p>\n Making the official nominating speech was another top Trump ally, Republican Party conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York, who declared Jordan would be \u201cwe the people\u2019s speaker\u201d.<\/p>\n On the other side of the aisle, Democratic caucus chairman Pete Aguilar of California nominated Jeffries and warned that handing the Speaker\u2019s gavel to a \u201cvocal election denier\u201d would send \u201ca terrible message\u201d at home and abroad.<\/p>\n Aguilar recited all the times Jordan voted against various measures \u2013 abortion access, government aid and others. Democrats chanted, \u201cHe said no!\u201d<\/p>\n Upset that a small band of hardliners had upended the House by ousting McCarthy, Republicans have watched their majority control of the chamber descend into public infighting. All House business has ground to a halt.<\/p>\n One holdout, Republican Ken Buck of Colorado, said Jordan\u2019s role in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and his refusal to admit that Biden, a Democrat, won the 2020 election remained an issue.<\/p>\n \u201cJim, at some point, if he\u2019s going to lead this conference during the presidential election cycle and particularly in a presidential election year … is going to have to be strong and say Donald Trump didn\u2019t win the election and we need to move forward,\u201d Buck said.<\/p>\n Immediately after the vote, Jordan conferred with McCarthy, who fared nearly as badly in January, having lost almost as many votes on the first of what would become a historic 15 ballots for the gavel.<\/p>\n Jordan can rely on Trump\u2019s support as well as pressure on colleagues from an army of grassroots activists who recognise him from cable news and fiery performances at committee hearings. Some Republicans said their first vote was merely a protest, and they would be with Jordan on future ballots.<\/p>\n Florida Republican Matt Gaetz who engineered McCarthy\u2019s ouster by a handful of hardliners, which did not include Jordan, publicly praised each lawmaker who flipped to Jordan\u2019s column \u2013 and berated those who did not.<\/p>\n Democrats have decried the far-right shift, calling Jordan the leader of the chaos wing of the Republicans.<\/p>\n Jordan has been a top Trump ally, particularly during the January 6 Capitol attack by the former president\u2019s backers who were trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Biden. Days later, Trump awarded Jordan a Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n Now the Republican Party\u2019s front-runner to challenge Biden in the 2024 election, Trump backed Jordan to replace McCarthy early on and worked against the nomination of Scalise, who withdrew after colleagues rejected their own rules and failed to coalesce around him.<\/p>\n Tensions remained high among Republicans exhausted by the internal party infighting.<\/p>\n Some Republicans resent being pressured by Jordan\u2019s allies and say they are being threatened with primary opponents if they don\u2019t support him as speaker. Others are simply upset at the way the whole process has dragged out.<\/p>\n First elected in 2006, Jordan has few bills to his name from his time in office. He also faces questions about his past. Some years ago, Jordan denied allegations from former wrestlers during his time as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University who accused him of knowing about claims they were inappropriately groped by an Ohio doctor. Jordan has said he was never aware of any abuse.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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