US Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks to members of the media on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 4, 2023.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio rallied contemporary help Monday for his bid to change into the subsequent speaker of the House of Representatives, as his nomination gained steam after a number of Republican holdouts publicly lined up behind the Judiciary Committee chairman.
Jordan faces a vital vote in the House Tuesday at midday. He wants 217 GOP votes in the intently divided chamber to safe the gavel.
The renewed momentum got here at a vital second for Jordan, whose candidacy appeared destined to fail late final week. After successful the inner, closed door nomination vote, Jordan nonetheless confronted a bloc of round 50 House Republicans who opposed his speakership.
Over the course of the day Monday, Jordan gained over a number of key skeptics who had been staunchly against his candidacy final week. They included the highly effective Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, Rep. Ken Calvert of California, and Ann Wagner of Missouri.
The House has been unable to maneuver ahead with pressing enterprise for practically two weeks, after eight Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida engineered the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a traditionally unprecedented no-confidence vote.
McCarthy additionally voiced his help for Jordan Monday: “It’s time to get the House out of this tailspin, come collectively, and get America again heading in the right direction. Jim Jordan can do it,” McCarthy stated in a social submit.
President Joe Biden known as the leadership vacuum in the House “harmful” in an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday. Biden has requested Congress to cross emergency safety help for Israel after the devastating Hamas terrorist assaults, as properly as for Ukraine as Kyiv wages a grinding counteroffensive towards Russia.
Jordan opposes further safety help for Ukraine. But Israel is a special story. On Monday, Jordan launched an inventory of actions he stated the United States ought to take to guard its longtime ally in the Middle East.
National safety hawks in the Republican Party are additionally deeply involved that the House leadership vacuum leaves the U.S. susceptible throughout a interval of escalating tensions and battle around the globe.
“The largest risk I see right here is that we do not have a speaker in the chair. We can not govern. And so our adversaries take a look at that as weak point,” House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul advised NBC News on Thursday.
“The longer this goes on, the extra harmful it’s for the United States and the American folks,” stated the Texas Republican.
The House GOP convention nominated Jordan as their new candidate for speaker after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana dropped out of the working when it was clear he didn’t have sufficient votes.
Jordan had initially thrown his help behind Scalise’s bid for the gavel. But a number of of the Ohio congressman’s most outspoken supporters had refused again to the bulk chief.
Jordan acknowledged the deep divisions remaining in the convention in a “pricey colleague” letter on Monday, and pledged to unite the Republican caucus as speaker.
“We might not all the time agree on each situation or each invoice, and that is all proper. We do not march in lock-step,” he wrote.
“The variations between us and our Democrat colleagues vastly outweigh our inner divisions,” he added. “The nation and our convention can not afford us attacking one another proper now.”
This is a growing story. Please verify again for updates.