Republicans Throw in Towel on Jim Jordan's Speaker Candidacy

After three failed votes on the House floor, Republicans held a closed-door meeting Friday afternoon in which they conducted a secret ballot and voted 112-86 in favor of ending Ohio Representative Jim Jordan's bid for speaker.

Jordan suffered his third loss on the House floor Friday morning after 25 members voted for someone else. That vote was preceded by a Wednesday vote in which 22 lawmakers voted against Jordan and a Monday vote in which 20 did.

The founding chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus and a lead on the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Jordan stands as one of the Democratic Party's top foes, meaning pledging support would put moderate members of the GOP in a tough place heading into the 2024 election cycle.

"It was an honor to be their speaker designee, but I felt it was important that we...get an answer to the question if they wanted me to continue in that role, so we put the question to them. They made a different decision," Jordan told reporters Friday afternoon. "We need to come together and figure out who are speaker is going to be."

Jordan originally lost a majority vote to Republican Leader Steve Scalise on October 11, but his backers refused to support Scalise as the party nominee, leading the Louisiana Republican to end his bid on October 12.

Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, who stood firm over the three votes in his opposition to Jordan, said Republicans will get answers regarding what's next regarding the speakership by noon Sunday. He believes the worst is behind the party and that Friday's vote represents progress.

"I think it's a high point," Kelly told Newsweek. "I think October 11 was a high point. October 12 was the low point. None of this had to happen."

Kelly believes that Friday's secret vote made the difference in allowing House Republicans to move forward. He supports Jordan as chairman of the Judiciary Committee and looks forward to his continued work but warns that the past week's ordeal badly damaged the Republican brand.

Looking ahead, Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, chair of the Republican Study Committee, told reporters he's in regarding candidacy for speaker. Republican Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota has also been floated as a potential candidate as well as Texas Representative Jodey Arrington, chair of the Budget Committee.

At the moment, it seems that no candidate has the votes needed to lock down the gavel. However, when it comes to deciding a future leader, Representative Jake Ellzey of Texas, who opposed Jordan, laid out a stipulation.

Ellzey reminded reporters that he took a tough vote to support the bipartisan continuing resolution to keep the government open in October, a vote that ultimately led to the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

"Without being absolute," Ellzey said, the next candidate he'd support should also have voted in favor of that resolution.

"I want to see somebody who took the hard vote," he told reporters. "If you want to lead me—lead."

Update 10/20/23, 4:50 p.m. ET: This story was updated with Jordan's comment to reporters Friday afternoon.