Jim Jordan struggles to collect all 217 votes needed to be elected the new Speaker of the House.
The House has been left without a speaker since October 3rd, when Kevin McCarthy was ousted by a sudden vote. Since then, the House has battled for control over who will take his place as the new speaker. They quickly appointed Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina to be the interim speaker.
After a lot of scrambling to get the House back on their feet, “ House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik formally nominated Speaker-Designate Jim Jordan (R-OH) as the next Speaker of the House,” (https://stefanik.house.gov/) on October 17th.
Quickly following his nomination, Jordan lost not only the first, but also the second votes back-to-back. The first being lost by twenty opposing Republican votes, followed by a jump to twenty-two opposing votes. In order to successfully become the next Speaker of the House, he needs to acquire a minimum of 217 affirmative votes.
On Friday, October 20th, the House voted yet again for Jordan, including Kevin McCarthy and his speech heavily endorsing Jordan and his run for the seat. Immediately after, the minority made a stand, nominating Dem Hakeem Jefferies of New York as their choice of speaker. The two went head-to-head, resulting in a vote totaling to 194 votes, for Jim Jordan which is still 23 votes shy of the 217 needed.
After losing his third and final election, the GOP have decided to move on to a new Speaker of the House candidate, which nine representatives have announced their position in.
