Rep. Jim Jordan and his allies took Tuesday afternoon to regroup after a vote in the House earlier in the day had 20 Republicans come out against his bid to become Speaker.
Jordan (R-Ohio) secured 200 of the necessary 217 votes, while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) got the full backing of Democratic members, with 212 votes.
The House has been in recess since the vote ended, just before 2 p.m., and a second vote is now expected at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Jordan had gained some major momentum, picking up endorsements from key players who had initially said they would not vote for him. But during Tuesday’s midday vote, 20 Republicans cast votes for other members.
Follow along for live updates below.
Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared to back giving expanded powers to Speaker Pro Temp Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).
Boehner, who served as Speaker from 2011 to 2015, responded “I agree” to a post on X, formerly Twitter, that called on the House to expand powers to McHenry.
He was responding to a post by CBS’s Robert Costa, who tweeted an excerpt from an upcoming newsletter from former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).
“Former Speaker Gingrich tonight in his column: ‘Speaker Pro Tempore McHenry is a lot better solution than gridlock and chaos. He should be empowered this week and let’s get on with the peoples’ business,'” Costa wrote.
-Lauren Sforza
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is calling on his colleagues to unite just hours after failing to secure enough votes for the Speakership on Tuesday.
“We must stop attacking each other and come together. There’s too much at stake. Let’s get back to working on the crisis at the southern border, inflation, and helping Israel,” Jordan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Jordan only clinched 200 votes on his first ballot effort Tuesday afternoon, falling well short of the necessary 217 votes to become speaker. The House is now scheduled to hold a second Speakership vote at 11 a.m. on Wednesday as Jordan looks to shore up support among the GOP conference.
-Lauren Sforza
Rep. Jim Jordan’s first failed bid to secure the Speakership has renewed calls for expanding the limited powers of Speaker Pro Temp Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)
Jordan’s loss of 20 GOP votes – one more than former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in his first of 15 votes to secure the gavel – has left the GOP even more uncertain when it can reach consensus over who should lead the party. A second planned vote was abruptly postponed from Tuesday evening to Wednesday.
Many in the party are rallying behind efforts that would give McHenry more power to act as a temporary Speaker, expanding a role otherwise appears to be largely dedicated to organizing the process of electing a new speaker.
Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) – who has pledged to continue to vote for McCarthy for speaker – told reporters Tuesday that moves to further empower McHenry have gained momentum – “as they should.”
— Rebecca Beitsch
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) ahead of the vote on Tuesday if he would give a nominating speech on his behalf, but Scalise would not commit to doing so, according to a source familiar with the discussion.
And during a meeting between the two after the vote — in which 20 Republicans withheld support from Jordan — the Ohio Republican asked Scalise for other help in his Speakership bid, but the source said the majority leader would not commit.
A Scalise spokesperson pushed back on the narrative that the Louisiana Republican declined to help Jordan.
“Leader Scalise has been the only candidate throughout this process who has publicly declared he will be supportive of whomever the conference nominates for Speaker, and his position has not changed. He voted for Jim Jordan on the floor and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson said.
The back and forth comes after Jordan offered to nominate Scalise on the House floor last week after the majority leader secured the nomination in an internal vote. Axios, however, reported that Jordan asked Scalise to then nominate him if it became clear that the majority leader did not have the votes to win the gavel on the floor.
— Mychael Schnell
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called on “my traditional Republican colleagues” to work with Democrats to find a bipartisan path to electing a speaker candidate.
Jeffries said Democrats have had “very informal conversations that have accelerated over the last few days. My hope, now that it’s clear Jim Jordan lacks the votes to be speaker, [is] that those conversations will accelerate this evening.”
Talks between the two parties have been ongoing, with some Republicans reportedly meeting with Democrats to head off Jordan, though many ultimately supported the House Judiciary chair.
Jeffries said the party has never used the term power-sharing agreement, but he renewed his pitch for GOP members to work across the aisle to gain their support for a candidate.
“The Republicans are unable to function on their own right now. So there’s only two paths: either you’re going to continue to bend the knee to the most extreme members of your conference who are not interested in governing, or you can partner with Democrats to do the business of the American people,” he said.
— Rebecca Beitsch
No more House votes are expected tonight, and the next Speaker vote will be on Wednesday.
“We got to keep talking to members,” Jordan told reporters when asked about the delay.
The House will reconvene at 11 a.m.
— Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said that Jordan’s performance on the House floor was “worse than expected,” and that the expectation was that the defectors were down to “single digits.”
If more people vote against Jordan on the second ballot, Mullin said, “he’s done.”
“If Jordan doesn’t get it, at some point, they’ve got to start looking at McCarthy again,” Mullin said.
— Al Weaver
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who voted against Jordan, sent a letter to Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) requesting the House immediately return to the floor for a second vote on Speaker.
“I am requesting that the House immediate come back for a second vote on the Speaker @PatrickMcHenry,” Diaz-Balart wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, with a screenshot of his screenshot to McHenry.
Diaz-Balart — one of 20 Republicans in the lower chamber to withhold support for Jordan — instead voted for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who dropped out of the Speaker’s race last week after it became apparent he would not be able to get the 217 votes needed to take the gavel.
Other Jordan holdouts, including Reps. Kay Granger (R-Texas), Steve Womack (R-Ark), Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said they agree with Diaz-Balart’s request to immediately return to the floor.
“The House needs to get back to work now,” Granger said on X, reposting Diaz-Balart’s letter.
“We need to bring this to the floor ASAP and get to the work of the American people,” Womack wrote, also reposting Diaz-Balart’s letter.
“Let’s bring this to the floor and get to work!” Simpson wrote on X.
Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who voted for Jordan on the first ballot echoed the push to return to the floor, writing, “We must end the gridlock in Washington.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
A source close to Rep. Jim Jordan says it makes sense to wait for Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) to return at 6 p.m. before going back to the floor to vote.
Bilirakis attended his mother-in-law’s funeral earlier Tuesday and missed the first Speaker vote.
The source adds that Team Jordan feels they’re “making good progress this afternoon.”
— Mychael Schnell
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) doubled down on his support for former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) in a statement Tuesday.
“My constituents sent me to Congress to fight for them and put their interests first. We need a Speaker who understands New York priorities such as funding 9/11 health care, prioritizing disaster and emergency relief, and providing SALT relief to middle-class Long Islanders who are burdened by double taxation,” he said.
“Lee Zeldin understands the needs of Long Islanders better than anyone. He would have been a great governor, and he would make a great Speaker,” he added.
Zeldin, who served in Congress from 2015 to 2023, ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in New York last year. Other New York Republicans, Reps. Nick LaLota and Anthony D’Esposito, also voted for Zeldin.
Zeldin had endorsed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker in a statement on Monday.
“With so many pressing issues facing our nation and world, America is not getting the leadership it needs from the White House and Senate. I’ve worked closely with Jim Jordan for many years and am confident he has the talent to do a great job as the next House Speaker,” Zeldin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
-Lauren Sforza
Jordan is promising a second vote on Speaker on Tuesday.
“We’ve already talked to some members who are gonna vote with us on the second ballot,” he said.
Asked if he was surprised by the number of Republican votes against him, Jordan responded, “not really.”
“We thought we were doing well, that we were that area or a little little more maybe…we feel confident that we are, we’ve already talked to some members who are gonna vote with us on the second ballot.”
— Mychael Schnell
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said Tuesday he thinks some of the outside pressure on holdouts against Jordan “backfired.”
Asked on Tuesday about outside pressure from “email mobs” and “Twitter mobs,” Donald told reporters, “I think some of it did backfire.”
“Listen in any organization, you or any team or any locker room, you have to deal with everybody differently. You can’t have the same style with everybody because everybody responds to different things. And you have to understand that and know that,” Donalds said.
Donalds said some of this outside pressure was to the “detriment” of Jordan and he hopes the House can work through that over the next couple hours and “get this business done.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
Former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that Jordan’s failed first Speaker bid is a sign the GOP’s right-wing members can’t solve its problems.
“It’s time to stop going to the most extreme elements within their caucus and thinking that that is something that can solve their problem,” he told reporters.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said some members used the first round of voting as “protests” to voice their concerns as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) failed to secure the votes.
“I think a lot of people make protests about the first go round and I get that,” he said.
“And they want their needs addressed. And that’s part of the system and that’s alright,” he added.
Burchett, who voted for Jordan, said he will stick with him throughout the voting since he is the only candidate. He also said he doesn’t believe it will take 16 ballots to elect a Speaker — which is one more than what it took to elect former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in January.
-Lauren Sforza