by Nicholas Ballasy
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan came up short in the first ballot of voting for House speaker Tuesday on the floor.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the House GOP conference chair, formally nominated Jordan on the House floor ahead of the first ballot of voting. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) is reportedly not attending the vote on Tuesday due to a funeral so 432 members are present in the chamber.
Jordan failed to receive the simple majority of members voting to win the speakership, which currently 217. The final vote was 200 for Jordan, 212 for House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and 20 votes from Republicans for other candidates. The House is now in recess.
Due to the slim GOP House majority, Jordan would lose in each round of voting if more than 3 Republicans and all Democrats oppose him.
The Ohio Republican has been working to close the vote deficit he had coming out of the GOP conference election on Friday for the next House speaker.
Jordan had continued his outreach to Republican holdouts on Tuesday ahead of the House floor vote.
“I felt good walking into the conference. I feel even better now,” Jordan said after the House GOP conference meeting on Monday evening. “We’ve got a few more people we’re going to talk to, listen to, and then we’ll have a vote tomorrow.”
Jordan was able to pick up some high profile endorsements from Republican House members who initially did not support him in the GOP conference’s secret ballot election, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul and Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers.
He still faces opposition from members who opposed the effort to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, such as Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. These members pledged to vote for the California Republican on the first ballot of voting for speaker on the House floor.
On Tuesday, Bacon was among the group of Republicans who voted for McCarthy on the floor, despite McCarthy maintaining he does not want to be nominated again for the job.
McCarthy endorsed Jordan and predicted he could win on the House floor.
“I’m doing everything I can to help him be able to become speaker,” McCarthy, who was ousted from the speakership on Oct. 3, said Monday on Fox News.
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Nicholas Ballasy has been breaking news for more than a decade in the nation’s capital and questioning political leaders about the most pressing issues facing the nation.
