The House is set to gavel in to elect a new speaker Tuesday as the Republican nominee, Rep. Jim Jordan, tried to convince GOP holdouts to save his bid for the gavel.
Mr. Jordan, 59, a conservative firebrand and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, hoped to win on the first round of voting slated for early afternoon, but he appeared to lack enough support from his party.
Mr. Jordan needs the backing of about 217 Republicans to win and can only lose about four votes.
But at least half a dozen GOP lawmakers said they plan to vote for ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was nominated last week but quit the race when he could not round up the backing of enough Republicans, or somebody else.
Several Republicans, including Rep. Carlos Giminez of Florida and Mike Lawler of New York, said they’ll vote for Mr. McCarthy of California, who was ousted by a small group of ultraconservatives and all House Democrats.
“I will not partake in this despicable coup,” Mr. Giminez said Monday. “Speaker McCarthy should have never been removed to begin with.”
Mr. Jordan is expected to push for multiple rounds of voting in an exercise meant to publicly pressure holdouts.
Some Republicans have warned they’ll only back Mr. Jordan on the first ballot and if he does not win then, they’ll drop their support.
At that point, Republicans must nominate a new candidate. A group of GOP lawmakers, frustrated with the stalemate over a speaker that has lasted for two weeks, say they’ll work with Democrats to elect somebody for the job, which would amount to surrendering majority control.
Under the rules, the House cannot conduct legislative business without an elected speaker. Some GOP lawmakers are pitching a plan to change the rules and provide more power to Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican installed as a temporary speaker following Mr. McCarthy’s removal.
• 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.