Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) failed to secure the speaker’s gavel for the second time in a Wednesday afternoon vote that saw Republican support for the hardline Ohio lawmaker shrink slightly from where it stood on the first ballot.
With the entire Democratic caucus falling in line behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Jordan could only afford to lose a handful of Republican votes after 20 GOP holdouts voted against him on Tuesday, costing him the gavel on the first ballot.
Jordan’s team appears to have lost ground since then, as 22 House Republicans voted against the party’s nominee in Wednesday’s vote.
“If you’re a Republican, it ought to be a pretty easy decision,” Representative Tom Cole (R., Okla.), the Rules Committee chairman, said during his speech nominating Jordan.
In choosing Cole, a respected moderate whose name has been floated as a possible alternative to Jordan, to give the address, Jordan’s team was likely signaling to other likeminded members that it’s time to unite behind the party’s nominee after weeks of uncertainty.
Still, there remains a significant portion of the Republican caucus that refuses to rally behind the hardline Ohio lawmaker.
“I think it gets more and more difficult for him every day,” Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.) told reporters on Wednesday after leaving the Republican whip’s office ahead of the vote. “People are talking about this resolution. I told leadership: ‘Call the question. Let’s find out.’”
Before the vote, Jordan, a leader of the House Freedom Caucus, sought to reassure members that he could unite the party after garnering 200 Republican votes in Tuesday’s session.
“I’ve proven I can get the most conservative members of the conference to the more moderate members of the conference; the whole cross-section,” the Ohio lawmaker said. “It’s important that we get the last few.”
“We must stop attacking each other and come together. There’s too much at stake.”
Victoria Spartz (R., Ind.), who cast a surprise ballot in favor of Representative Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) on Tuesday, told National Review the “amount of hate calls” she had gotten “from all over the country” was a sign of how the political process was getting “unhealthy.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), Steve Scalise (R., La.), Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), Byron Donalds (R., Fl.), as well as a handful of other party members, received a smattering of protest votes on the second speakership ballot.