House Republicans left the Capitol Friday without electing a new speaker after their second nominee in two days, Rep. Jim Jordan, fell short of the 217 votes needed to win the gavel in a floor vote.
Republicans nominated Mr. Jordan on Friday, a day after Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana abandoned the nomination when he could not garner enough support to survive a vote on the House floor.
Mr. Jordan, a conservative firebrand from Ohio who chairs the Judiciary Committee, must now try to round up the support of nearly every Republican in the conference.
Republicans who left a closed-door meeting Friday said they will return on Monday or Tuesday.
At the meeting, they cast secret votes in two ballot rounds to nominate a speaker. Mr. Jordan garnered 124 in the first round and 152 votes in the second round.
It’s far from the 217 needed to win on the House floor, where Democrats will vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat.
Mr. Jordan, 59, ran against Rep. Austin Scott, a Georgia Republican who some lawmakers viewed as a proxy for Mr. Scalise.
Mr. Scott received 81 votes in the first round of balloting. After Mr. Jordan secured the majority, Mr. Scott received 55 votes on a second ballot, indicating there were dozens of Republicans unwilling to elect Mr. Jordan.
“Jim Jordan received a majority vote, “ said Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana. “He still has a lot of votes to overcome.”
Republicans have not set a time for a House floor vote.
Rep. Kevin Hern, Oklahoma Republican, said Mr. Jordan will be “working overtime” this weekend to come up with the votes needed to win.
A handful of Republicans left town and were missing from the internal vote on Friday.
House Republicans have grown increasingly frustrated with the discord, which has paralyzed the House for two weeks.
The GOP-led House has been blocked from legislating since a group of conservative hardliners paired with Democrats on Oct. 3 to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Some Republicans have proposed outside candidates, including former President Donald Trump, if the conference can’t agree on a House GOP lawmaker for the speaker’s chair.
A small group of House Republicans, frustrated with the gridlock, are threatening to pair with Democrats to elect a bipartisan speaker but they have not specified who it would be. Electing a Democrat would essentially hand the party control of the chamber, which appears unlikely. Democratic leaders haven’t indicated if they would back any Republican for speaker.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.