‘It’s astonishing’: GOP ditches Jordan as speaker pick

In a shocking turn, Jim Jordan on Friday lost an internal GOP vote that was intended to show confidence in him remaining as his party’s speaker designee.

The Ohio Republican is now no longer his party’s pick to lead the House, a demise sealed by a GOP secret ballot just after his third failed floor vote as a speaker hopeful.

It was an unexpectedly fast end to the Ohio conservative’s candidacy to lead the chaos-ridden Republican conference — and a sign that the flailing party is fed up on its 17th day without a speaker. Lawmakers now plan to leave Washington for the weekend as the next round of ambitious Republicans decide whether to mount their own speaker bids.

But most Republicans acknowledge that even with new faces to consider, they still have no clear path to uniting their splintered conference. They have already rejected two speaker candidates — Jordan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise — as well as former Speaker Kevin McCarthy during this month alone.

McCarthy gave voice to a sentiment that’s growing within the GOP: The party’s inability to run the half of Congress that it narrowly won doesn’t bode well for its broader future.

“I’m concerned about where we go from here,” said McCarthy, who had been backing Jordan. “It’s astonishing to me, and we are in a very bad position as a party.”

Jordan’s loss of the speaker nod from his party came as something of a surprise, since he had sought the internal vote with allies preparing to cite it as a show of continued support for his candidacy. Instead, the secret ballot revealed that while Jordan’s public opposition never topped 25 votes, scores more House Republicans wanted to see him out of the race.

The next race to replace him is expected to get crowded, even as Congress faces no shortage of pressing business that it’s unable to conduct while the House stays shut. At the top of that list: a government shutdown deadline that’s less than a month away and a $100 million-plus emergency funding request from the Biden administration, encompassing aid to both Israel and Ukraine.

So far, at least one Republican, Rep. Kevin Hern (Okla.), has confirmed he would enter the contest. A second, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) — whose name has been floated by leaders of the Texas delegation — acknowledged he is “considering” a run. Two others, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), are also widely expected to enter the speaker race.

Another aspiring leader, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) also opened the door to a bid on Friday. Donalds told reporters: “What I’m going to do is, frankly, sit down and think.”

Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said that he’s also considering jumping in, adding that he would make a decision by the end of Friday.

Even more candidates are expected to file ahead of an internal deadline of Sunday at noon before another candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. on Monday evening, according to multiple people familiar with the GOP’s plans. A full vote could take place as soon as Tuesday morning, according to acting speaker Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

In all, 122 Republicans voted to boot Jordan as their party’s nominee, while 86 said he should remain their choice, according to two people familiar with the private discussions. Five members voted present.

“Unbelievable.” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a longtime Jordan backer. “We lost a real conservative that could have been a speaker.”

One Jordan opponent, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), said the Ohioan did the “right” thing by stepping aside, calling it a “very gracious” exit.

“We’re gonna have to find consensus. Obviously, the last two, we could not. And so we find ourselves in a position where we’re gonna have to go back to the drawing board.”

Another Republican posed the more pressing question for the adrift House GOP.

“Who out there can get 217?” Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) asked.

Caitlin Emma, Katherine Tully-McManus and Anthony Adragna contributed.

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