Rep. Jim Jordan loses speaker bid again, but all 12 California Republicans support him
Rep. Jim Jordan lost a third try Friday to win enough votes to become speaker, but all 12 California Republicans continued to back him for the job.
Hours later, though, House Republicans decided in a secret vote to end Jordan’s Speaker bid. New candidates will have until Sunday to declare their intention to run. House Republicans plan to reconvene Monday and hope to vote on a Speaker Tuesday.
Jordan earlier received 194 votes in the House, well short of the 217 needed to win. The unanimity among the California delegation was a mild surprise, since some had expressed impatience earlier in the week with the GOP’s inability to choose a leader.
Jordan lost support overall, as other candidates got 25 votes, three more than on the second ballot Wednesday and five more than on Tuesday’s vote. Because the House has 221 Republicans, and 217 are needed for a majority, Jordan could only afford to lose four votes.
But the Californians stuck with him, as they had on the second ballot Wednesday and in all but one instance on the first ballot Tuesday. On that vote, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville, supported former Speaker Kevin McCarthy as a nod to a loyal friend but switched to Jordan after that.
The House has now been without a speaker for 17 days, and there’s no resolution in sight. Jordan’s backers have suggested he’ll keep seeking votes to make him speaker. The House has had no speaker since McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, was ousted Oct. 3. House Republicans planned to meet again privately Friday afternoon to decide their next steps.
McCarthy nominated Jordan for speaker Friday, telling the House the Judiciary Committee Chairman is an “effective legislator.”
McCarthy quoted freshmen members of the committee praising Jordan — though McCarthy didn’t name names — and concluded they saw the chairman as “straightforward, honest and reliable.”
The hope of Jordan backers is that in this uneasy time of crisis he’ll ultimately be seen as the only hope for House leadership as wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza and a federal government funding deadline of Nov. 17 grows closer.
But accusations of arm twisting tactics and longstanding concerns about his outspoken ways of promoting far right causes have left him well short of winning the 217 votes needed to become speaker.
California votes
The California unanimity was somewhat surprising, since some members had been expressing impatience with the slow, seemingly unending process.
“It is clear that the current candidates do not have the support necessary to become speaker,” Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, said after Jordan lost his second bid.
Valadao, who is seeking re-election in a closely contested swing district, had urged turning to Speaker Pro-Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and giving him more clout, but his GOP colleagues largely rejected that strategy.
Other California House members were also growing impatient with the stalemate.
After the second vote, Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, also competing in a swing district, issued a statement urging unity.
“We owe it to our constituents to get back to the work at hand,” he said.
Others echoed that thought.
“We’ve wasted two weeks without passing anything that will help America. I know my constituents expect us to find a way to get our work done, so that has and will continue to be my priority,” said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, in a tweet.
Calvert is one of the most powerful Republicans in the House. He chairs the defense appropriations subcommittee, which makes spending decisions on Pentagon matters.
He had been a supporter of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who dropped his bid last week when he fell short of a majority, and this week said he’d back Jordan.
Among the strongest Jordan backers in the delegation was Rep. Darrell Issa, R-San Marcos.
Issa, who could become House Judiciary Committee chairman if Jordan becomes speaker, has been pushing Jordan for weeks.
He said he’d continue to urge colleagues to vote for Jordan, reminding people that it took 15 ballots to elect McCarthy in January.
This story was originally published October 20, 2023 at 9:13 AM.
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