House prepares to vote at noon on a new speaker

Oct 17, 2023

Jim Jordan faces a test Tuesday: Can he secure the votes needed to become speaker?

The House is expected to begin voting at noon. At this point, there are Republicans balking at the idea of Jordan with the gavel, putting his bid in possible trouble.

After Monday night’s closed door Republican Conference meeting, Jordan said he’d be continuing his campaign to colleagues: “We got a few more people we’re going to talk to, to listen to, and then we’ll have a vote” Jordan said.

Jordan is projecting confidence, saying he “felt better” after the meeting than when he walked in. He was bolstered by Monday’s cascade of support from colleagues who just days earlier were hard nos on a Jordan speakership.

And yet … Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) are saying they’ll be voting for Kevin McCarthy at noon, and Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) say they’ll be voting for Steve Scalise.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he’s “not budging” from the anti-Jordan camp. Others still in the not-Jordan column include Reps. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who was a no after the meeting but met with Jordan later. And that’s just a rough roundup, far from a comprehensive whip count.

Those naysayers already tally up above the handful that Jordan can lose and still clinch the gavel. But Jordan will be continuing to try to bring opponents into his camp, likely right up until the vote — and eyes will be on him in the House chamber, where he will still have the opportunity to twist arms and make promises.

January blues, part two: Jordan is ready to battle through multiple ballots on the floor, losing again and again, in order to overtake his opponents. That’s what many in the conference have been hoping to avoid, fearing that another bruising floor fight will project chaos. It took 15 rounds for Kevin McCarthy to get the votes to win in January.

While Jordan is counting on flipping the votes against him on consecutive ballots, some of his colleagues who have promised to vote for him have only made that commitment for the first ballot.

Easy as ABC: These votes will be long and even longer if it goes to multiple ballots. The reading clerk will call the full House roster alphabetically and members will shout out their choice for speaker from the floor. Much of the drama may be on the early end, there is a cluster of Jordan opposition at the start of the alphabet.

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