[Politics] House remains without leader as Jordan fails a second time to win speaker gavel

[GlaD1]

WASHINGTON — For a second time in two days, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, fell short of the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker, another serious blow to the Donald Trump-backed candidate's chances of seizing the prized gavel.

Jordan, the GOP's latest nominee for speaker, received 199 votes; that was one net vote fewer than he received on Tuesday and a sign that Jordan is bleeding support rather than winning over his detractors. Compared to the first ballot, he lost four votes, flipped two in his favor and added one who was initially absent.

The backward movement indicates that Jordan's hopes of securing the job are in peril, prolonging an unprecedented stretch of chaos for the Republican-controlled House, which has no clear path to electing a new leader.

 

Many lawmakers are eager to get to work on government funding legislation ahead of a Nov. 17 deadline to avert a shutdown, but the chamber cannot conduct business until it elects a new leader. Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., a Jordan backer who represents a swing district, said the dynamics needed to change and proposed fractured Republicans hold a retreat outside of the Beltway, far from lobbyists and the glare of the media.

"It sounds silly but let's go to Gettysburg or something. Let's go to somewhere that is meaningful to our nation's history so that the Republican party can once again remember why we do what we do," Garcia said after the vote.

Somewhere "to remind us of why we fight these fights and why we are actually in this job. And that's to make sure that the country endured and that we get stronger and not weaker."

Even as Jordan vowed to stay in the fight with further ballots until he's elected speaker, the vote tally raised new questions about whether the powerful Judiciary Committee chairman might bow out of the race and other speaker hopefuls might jump in.

The four members who voted for Jordan initially but flipped on the second ballot Wednesday were Reps. Vern Buchanan of Florida, Drew Ferguson of Georgia, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, and Pete Stauber of Minnesota. The two who flipped in Jordan's favor were Reps. Doug LaMalfa of California and Victoria Spartz of Indiana. He added one vote, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., who was absent Tuesday.

Wednesday is the 15th day the House has been without a speaker. Lawmakers are growing increasingly worried about not being able to supply Ukraine and Israel with fresh aid packages amid their wars, and a new government shutdown threat is now less than a month away.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jordan-house-speaker-fail-rcna121021