Here we go again! House Republicans voted late on Friday to select their nominee for Speaker of the House on Friday, for the second time in a matter of days. While House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) managed to win the nomination on Wednesday, he did not have enough votes to win on the floor and thus withdrew on Thursday evening, just as Townhall's source on The Hill predicted he would. This time, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has the nomination. He previously received 99 votes to Scalise's 113 votes when members met on Wednesday.
Jordan not only earned more votes on Friday than he had on Wednesday, once the vote count was released, it was revealed he earned more than Scalise. In the first vote from Friday, Jordan won 124 votes.
Jordan still came short of the necessary 217 to win on the House floor. He thus asked for a second secret-ballot round of votes. Although Scalise had won he nomination on Wednesday, a full vote never even took place on the House floor, despite how at one point it was supposed to happen later that Wednesday afternoon.
Two sources say he got 124 votes
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 13, 2023
124-81, Jordan wins the GOP nomination. BUT he wanted to lock down 217 votes. So he’s asking for a second secret-ballot vote to see if members will support him on the floor. This will be key to see if he decides to press ahead.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 13, 2023
Jordan received some more votes on the second try, with the vote this time being 152-55-1.
House is going home. No Speaker vote tonight. Second vote to back Jordan on the floor was 152-55-1.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 13, 2023
At the start of the 118th Congress, it took 15 rounds for Kevin McCarthy to become speaker in the early morning hours of January 7. He was ousted early last week after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate the chair. Although only 8 Republicans voted to remove McCarthy, all Democrats joined with them.
There has been s sense of urgency not only because the House has gone over a week without a speaker, but there is also a need to avert a government shutdown once the continuing resolution (CR) runs out, and to be able to support Israel after Hamas attacked the country last weekend. Despite this, there will be no vote on Friday night.
As Leah reported at the time, Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) had mounted a challenge to Jordan earlier in the day. Jordan had been the first to officially throw his hat into the ring for speaker, doing so last Wednesday.
"Jim Jordan" is trending on X, as is "Liz Cheney" with the former congresswoman trending due to her post expressing great concern about Jordan, comments some take to be a reason to support Jordan, actually. Cheney lost her primary by over 40 points in August of last year to now Rep. Harriet Hageman.
From now on Republicans should apply the "Cheney Test"; if Liz Cheney thinks someone is "unfit for office" then they are the right candidate for the job. pic.twitter.com/6KFmJJD559
— Ben Kew 🏌️♂️ (@ben_kew) October 13, 2023