Republicans nominated conservative hardliner Jim Jordan as their candidate for speaker of the US House of Representatives on Friday, October 13, as the lower chamber of Congress entered the 10th day of a leadership vacuum that has paralyzed Washington. The party has been in disarray since right-wing rebels forced out Kevin McCarthy, leaving the Republican-controlled House unable to address mounting crises including a looming government shutdown and US ally Israel on a war footing.
Louisiana's Steve Scalise was initially seen as the best hope for a new standard-bearer who could heal the party's bitter divides and he beat Jordan to the nomination in a secret ballot earlier this week. But the 59-year-old Ohioan, backed by former president Donald Trump, gets a second chance after Scalise dropped out, as it became clear he lacked the 217 votes necessary to prevail in the full House.
Republicans preferred Jordan, a darling of the right but a divisive figure in more mainstream circles, over Georgia congressman Austin Scott in the Republicans' second internal nomination vote of the week. "Jim Jordan is authentic. Jim has never stopped being himself in every role he has held and in every relationship he has," said California's Darrell Issa, a former chairman of the Oversight Committee. "That's why he is trusted and has close friends throughout our entire conference."
Unlike McCarthy and Scalise, Jordan has the trust of the party's most conservative faction, having spent years as a fringe rabble rouser before getting the chairmanship of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Crucially, he has many admirers in the influential right-wing cable news ecosphere, most notably Fox News star Sean Hannity, who said lawmakers would be "crazy" to vote against Jordan.
"He is a natural born principled leader who will lead House Republicans to unite vs the radical left on the house and senate," Hannity posted on social media. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a colleague of Jordan in the hard right Freedom Caucus, said it was "yet to be seen" if he could win a vote in the full House but repeated her full-throated endorsement.
Jordan is disliked by moderates wary of his hardline outlook, and who remember his leading role in the downfall of a previous Republican speaker, John Boehner, and in the longest US government shutdown in history, in 2018. Jordan beat Scott by 124 votes to 81, US media reported, meaning he will need to find support from another 90-plus Republicans to win the vote in the full House.
A handful of Jordan's colleagues have already ruled out backing him, which makes the math look like a tall order in a House with a razor-thin Republican majority. "We have a lot of members who just feel like they will let perfect be the enemy of the good," said center-right congressman Dusty Johnson. "That is not how any functional government or any functional marriage or any functional business works."
McCarthy told reporters he was backing Jordan and voiced confidence that the congressman would be able to get to 217 votes in the full House. But with several Democrats and Republicans already out of town, a speaker vote in the full House on Friday looked unlikely, although members could be given 24 hours' notice to return over the weekend.
"If I was a betting man, I would not bet on tonight," California's Mike Garcia told reporters. "We'll see about this weekend but we owe it to the American people to get through this process as quickly as possible – but also with the rigor and the due diligence that we put in all of our processes."