Jim Jordan to hold press conference amid Speaker vote chaos

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is holding a press conference Friday morning after two failed attempts to become the new Speaker of the House.

“Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) will hold a press conference tomorrow morning, Friday, October 20, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. ET in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol,” a post by House Judiciary Committee Republicans read on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Jordan failed twice in two votes to see who would clinch the Speaker’s gavel this week. In both votes, 20 or more Republicans did not vote for him for Speaker. It was even reported that Jordan would back a resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) on Thursday.

“I think we’re at, we got 200 votes. You know, we picked up some today, a couple dropped off, but they voted for me before. I think they come back again. So we’ll keep talking to members. Keep working on it,” Jordan said in the wake of the second vote.

The House has been left without a Speaker since Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was pushed out of the office earlier this month; eight Republicans joined House Democrats in the vote that resulted in the California Republican’s removal from the Speakership.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who led McCarthy’s ouster, expressed his opposition Thursday to empowering McHenry.

“I’m against ‘Speaker Light’,” Gaetz said in a video posted on X. “I’m against Bud Light. I believe it is a constitutional desecration to not elect a Speaker of the House. We need to stay here until we elect a Speaker.”