The House of Representatives will vote on electing a new speaker on Tuesday, as the hard-right congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio looks to win the gavel following the historic ouster of the Republican Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.
The House has now been without a speaker for two weeks, leaving the chamber paralyzed. The House remains unable to pass any legislation, even as many lawmakers of both parties have stressed the urgent need to approve an aid package for Israel following the Hamas attacks earlier this month.
Jordan won the Republican conference’s speakership nomination on Friday, after the House majority whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, was forced to drop out of the race due to opposition from hard-right lawmakers.
Jordan, who finished second to Scalise in the initial conference vote, captured the nomination in his second attempt, defeating his fellow Republican Austin Scott of Georgia in a vote of 124 to 81.
Although he captured the nomination, Jordan’s level of support fell far short of the 217 votes that he will need on to win the speakership on Tuesday. In an even more worrisome sign for Jordan’s prospects, 55 House Republicans had indicated on Friday that they would not support Jordan in a floor vote, even after he won the nomination. Because of the Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House, Jordan can only afford four defections within the conference and still ascend to the speakership.
Jordan received a few key endorsements on Monday, after he met with some of the Republican holdouts who initially indicated they would not support him. Ann Wagner of Missouri, a close ally of Scalise, and Mike Rogers of Alabama, the Republican chair of the House armed services committee, both said they would back Jordan.
“I feel real good about the momentum we have, and I think we’re real close,” Jordan told CNN on Monday.
Heading into the floor vote, which was scheduled to take place at noon, it remained unclear whether Jordan had convinced enough of his critics to become speaker. But Jordan made clear that Republicans would move forward with the planned floor vote even if the outcome was uncertain.
“It’s not about pressuring anybody. It’s just about, we got to have a speaker,” Jordan told CNN. “You can’t open the House and do the work of the American people and help our dearest and closest friend Israel if you don’t have a speaker.”
The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, had called on more moderate members of the Republican conference to join with Democrats in forming a bipartisan coalition, but even Jordan skeptics have rejected that proposal.
“Let me be clear, I am not, and will not, work with Democrats as our Republican conference comes together to elect a conservative speaker of the House,” Wagner said in her statement released on Monday. “Throughout my time in Congress, I have always been a team player and supported our Republican nominees out of conference … Jim Jordan is our conference nominee, and I will support his nomination for speaker on the House floor.”