The House of Representatives adjourned earlier on Tuesday without electing a Speaker. There were three ballots during the day, during which Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) not only failed to emerge victorious, he actually lost ground on the third ballot, as Spencer highlighted earlier, with 20 Republicans defections. It was Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) who changed his vote during the third ballot.
Democrats have remained united in voting for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who will succeed Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as the Democratic leader. Some members have even gone about voting for him through lengthy and grandiose displays of theatrics. When it comes to additional Republicans in the running, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) nominated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for such a position. Jordan had actually been the one to nominate McCarthy.
While Rep. Gaetz has certainly garnered attention for his speech nominating Jordan, he's hardly the only vocal member against McCarthy. Among them is Rep. Bob Good (R-VA). Good was against McCarthy from the start, and has been quite open about it.
The congressman explained to Townhall in part of a Tuesday night statement that McCarthy "is part of the problem. He is not part of the solution. We've got to defeat the status quo in order to bring true transformational change to Congress in order to try to save the country."
Earlier on Tuesday, Good had also made his stance known in no uncertain terms when he promised that the members against McCarthy, many of them House Freedom Caucus (HFC) members, "will never cave." CNN's Manu Raju tweeted out such a statement just before 2:30pm, not long before the second ballot concluded.
Bob Good, Virginia R, on McCarthy: “He is never going to be speaker. We will never cave. We will never vote for him. The sooner he pulls out … the better everyone it is and we can move together to find who the best person is who can get 218,” he said, per @tedbarrettcnn
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 3, 2023
Good's tone only became more emboldened from there. As he also mentioned in his statement, he is "very pleased that my colleagues and I have held together with 20 votes after the first three ballots against Kevin McCarthy," which further highlights how it was anti-McCarthy Republicans who have "held together" while the numbers are slipping away, rather than towards, McCarthy.
The congressman believes that that will only continue. "I think you'll continue to see Kevin McCarthy lose a greater number of votes on the upcoming ballots, and at some point, he will recognize the reality as he continues to lose support, and he will drop out." He too is supporting Jordan, "as the person I think is the best individual to earn 218 votes and lead us in the fight to stop the Biden-Schumer agenda."
That being said, Good see it as possible that other Republican candidates may emerge in the scenario that McCarthy is forced to drop out, something Good sees as a when, not if. "However, it remains to be seen whether additional candidates will emerge after Kevin McCarthy drops out," Good added.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), another HFC member, who was initially an opponent of McCarthy for the speakership, also voted for Jordan, as did Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who had nominated Biggs, and then on Tuesday also gave a speech nominating Jordan ahead of the third ballot.
Rep. Jordan told Townhall in a November 2021 interview about his book, "Do What You Said You Would Do: Fighting for Freedom in the Swamp," that he is instead looking to be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, as opposed to Speaker of the House. He has maintained such a preference.
Good, however, as Raju also tweeted, explained that that is "exactly" why they want him for the job.
Conservatives will vote for Jim Jordan on third ballot too, per Bob Good. He told me he expects Jordan’s support to grow.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 3, 2023
“And I think we're gonna see his numbers grow.”
He said the fact that Jordan doesn’t want the gavel is “exactly” why they want him.
According to a Tuesday evening thread from Fox News' Chad Pergram, the race to select a speaker could be even more drawn out and drama filled. Not only are there potentially at least two Republican members who may need to be absent later this week, but there's an even worse scenario for McCarthy that could come about, which is if members vote "present" as another way to deny McCarthy the speakership.
2) Here’s the problem: Fox is hearing rumblings that at least two GOP members may need to be absent later this week. Absences on either side start to alter the math of the equation to win the Speakership.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
4) However, Fox is told that number could dwindle – both in terms of attendance and GOPers who don’t believe McCarthy can ever pull it out. There are starting to be serious conversations around the Capitol now about vote attrition for McCarthy.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
5) What we are witnessing now is a fight which was delayed by seven years and is now playing out in full few, blocking the entire Congress from electing its Constitutional officer for the legislative branch of government.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
7) Voting for Jordan by name helps McCarthy stay in the game for now. But it obviously prevents him from securing the Speakership. However, the danger is lurking if McCarthy opponents were to switch their vote to “present.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
9) The doomsday scenario for McCarthy and Republicans is if some McCarthy supporters start to disappear or vote “present.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
11) House Democratic leaders did not respond to a question at a press conference this evening as to whether they were telling their members to stay close to the floor. If Democrats have more members on hand that GOPers, this gets to be a problem.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
13) Also, there were no objections or a demand for a roll call vote when Rep.-elect Tom Cole (R-OK) moved for the House to adjourn at the conclusion of the third roll call vote tonight.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
15) So it’s probably good from their perspective that the House isn’t continuing to vote and is adjourned. That’s because continued, repeated votes runs the risk of having people stray from the chamber. This is important the longer this goes on.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
17) Keep in mind that there is precedent in both 1849 and 1856 for the House to take a vote to lower the threshold for someone to win the Speakership from an outright majority of all members voting for someone by name versus a plurality.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
18) The House could approve such a resolution to help McCarthy. But, if the House were to do that now, you know you has a plurality? Hakeem Jeffries.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 4, 2023
As Pergram's thread noted, it's Jeffries who has maintained a plurality of votes, thanks to complete Democratic unity. At 212 votes, he's just six votes shy of becoming speaker.