CNN
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Republican Rep. Jim Jordan once more did not win the Home speaker’s gavel in a second vote on Wednesday, faring worse than he did in the course of the first spherical of voting at some point earlier. The loss raises critical questions over whether or not the Ohio Republican has a viable path ahead as he confronts steep opposition and the Home stays in a state of paralysis.
Regardless of the defeat, Jordan has vowed to remain within the race. The Home is predicted to carry a 3rd speaker vote on Thursday at midday ET. With out a speaker, the chamber is successfully frozen, a precarious place that comes amid battle overseas and a possible authorities shutdown subsequent month.
The conservative Republican’s wrestle to realize traction has additionally highlighted the bounds of Donald Trump’s affect within the speaker’s race after the previous president endorsed Jordan.
As stress grows on Republicans to discover a approach out of the management disaster, some are pushing to develop the powers of the interim speaker, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, although such a transfer wouldn’t be with out controversy and has divided Republicans.
Through the first spherical of voting on Tuesday, 20 Home Republicans voted towards Jordan. On Wednesday, that quantity rose to 22, exhibiting that the opposition towards the candidate has grown. There have been 4 new Republican votes towards Jordan and two that flipped into his column. Given the slim Home GOP majority, Jordan can solely afford to lose a handful of votes and the excessive variety of votes towards him places the gavel far out of attain.
Following his second defeat on the ground, Jordan indicated that he’s dug in on urgent forward.
“We don’t know after we’re going to have the subsequent vote however we need to proceed our conversations with our colleagues,” he mentioned, including: “We’ll hold speaking to members and hold engaged on it.”
Jordan is a polarizing determine within the speaker’s combat, a complicating consider his effort to lock down votes. He’s a staunch ally of Trump, has a longstanding fame as a conservative agitator and helped discovered the hardline Home Freedom Caucus. Because the chairman of the highly effective Home Judiciary Committee, he has additionally been a key determine in Home GOP-led investigations.
It took former Speaker Kevin McCarthy 15 rounds of voting in January to safe the gavel. However Jordan faces an uphill climb amid the deep divisions inside the Home GOP convention and the resistance he faces.
Because the speaker battle drags on, tensions and frustration have risen amongst Home Republicans. A few of the lawmakers who’ve voted towards Jordan within the speaker’s race have railed towards what they’ve described as a stress marketing campaign towards them.
Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas derided what he referred to as the “assault, assault, assault” techniques of Jordan allies towards his Republican opponents.
“Frankly, simply based mostly on what I’ve been by means of – I can solely converse to myself and what my workers has been by means of over the past 24 or 48 hours – it’s apparent what the technique has been: Assault, assault, assault. Assault the members who don’t agree with you, assault them, beat them into submission,” he mentioned.
GOP Rep. Don Bacon’s spouse acquired nameless textual content messages warning her husband to again Jordan. Bacon has been a vocal holdout towards Jordan and was one of many 20 Republican members that didn’t again Jordan on the ground in Tuesday’s vote.
“Your husband is not going to maintain any political workplace ever once more. What a disappointment and failure he’s,” learn one of many messages despatched to Bacon’s spouse and obtained by CNN by means of Bacon.
Bacon’s spouse responded to that textual content saying, “he has extra braveness than you. You received’t put your title to your statements.”
GOP lawmaker voted for a congressman he did not need to be Speaker. Hear why
Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa mentioned in an announcement that she has “acquired credible demise threats and a barrage of threatening calls” after flipping her speaker vote Wednesday, as an alternative casting a poll for Home Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger.
Russell Dye, a spokesman for Jordan, condemned the threats towards Miller-Meeks, saying: “That is abhorrent and has no place in civil discourse. Nobody ought to obtain threats and it must cease. We’ve got condemned these actions repeatedly. It can be crucial that Republicans cease attacking one another and are available collectively.”
And Jordan wrote on X that “no American ought to accost one other for his or her beliefs.”
“We condemn all threats towards our colleagues and it’s crucial that we come collectively. Cease. It’s abhorrent,” he added.
Opponents to the congressman’s bid up to now have included centrist Republicans involved that the face of the Home GOP could be a conservative hardliner in addition to lawmakers nonetheless livid on the small group of Republicans who compelled out McCarthy after which opposed Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise’s bid for the gavel.
Scalise initially defeated Jordan contained in the GOP convention to turn into the speaker nominee, however later dropped out of the race amid opposition to his candidacy.
This story and headline have been up to date with further developments.
