Jim Jordan Deals Blow to MAGA's Scalise Outrage

Representative Jim Jordan is no longer gunning for the speakership, despite continued support from his allies to seek the gavel.

House Republicans offered a rebuke of Jordan as the next Speaker of the House on Wednesday, choosing instead to nominate Representative Steve Scalise in a 113-99 closed-door vote.

Although Scalise won the backing of the majority of his party, his candidacy will still need support on the House floor, where chaos ensued the last time Republicans tried to elect a speaker. Representative Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the leadership position last week in a shocking vote, wasn't able to secure enough votes to win until the 15th round of voting.

There was speculations as to whether Scalise's bid could face the same uphill battle as McCarthy's, since Democrats are unlikely to help Republicans elect their Speaker of choice and since Wednesday's anonymous vote revealed that the House GOP remains starkly divided. But new reports say that Jordan has offered to nominate Scalise on the floor and throw his support behind his colleague instead of continuing to seek the speakership.

Newsweek reached out to Jordan via email for comment.

When the Speaker vote is taken up on the House floor, members of Congress will still be allowed to nominate Jordan, and some Republicans have been insistent that they won't switch their votes over to Scalise.

"I'm Jim Jordan all the way," Representative Max Miller told New York Times.

"I just voted for Jim Jordan for Speaker on a private ballot in conference, and I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor," Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also said on X, formerly Twitter. "I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress."

Scalise, who announced last month that he has been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer, has stated that he will continue to serve in the House as he undergoes treatment for his "very treatable" diagnosis.

The Republicans' razor-thin majority in the House means a Speaker candidate will need 217 votes on the floor, if every member is present, in order to secure the gavel.

Jordan, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is one of the most conservative members of the House GOP. A founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, Jordan has built a national profile as one of Trump's most stalwart supporters in Congress and a Republican hardliner that has been backed by many Trump loyalists.

Since becoming the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, Jordan has led the GOP investigations into President Joe Biden. His committees have held multiple hearings related to the business dealings of the president's family members and Jordan is leading the impeachment inquiry into the president himself. Jordan supported McCarthy during his bid for the speakership in January.

Earlier in the day before the conference vote, Jordan told reporters, "I will support anyone who can get 217 votes. We've got to come together as a conference."

But some Republicans have warned Jordan that if Scalise is unable to get the votes he needs to be elected as soon as Wednesday, he will have to shoulder some of the blame.

"If we go to the floor this afternoon or tomorrow and for some reason Steve fails to get 217 votes, I think Jim will own part of that because I think he set the table," Representative Steve Womack told the Times.