GOP Speaker nominee Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) scrapped plans to hold a third vote on Thursday as his opponents showed no signs of backing down.
Several left a meeting with the Ohio Republican Thursday vowing to maintain their resistance.
That meeting came after a push to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) hit a Republican wall, leaving the conference in largely the same position in which it started the day.
Jordan failed to win the gavel on the second ballot Wednesday, losing even more Republicans than on the first ballot Tuesday.
Follow along with live updates below.
House Republicans and their nominee for Speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ended a marathon day with no Speaker, no clear path for the Ohio Republican to win the gavel — and even fewer ways out of their conundrum.
Jordan spiked plans to hold a third floor vote on his Speakership bid Thursday as more Republicans said they intended to vote against him on the next go around.
The House will return to vote on his third attempt on Friday at 10 a.m., a spokesperson said.
But it is likely that the number of Republican votes against him — 20 on his first ballot Tuesday, and 22 on the second ballot Wednesday — will only increase.
— Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), a close ally of Jordan, wrote on X that, “We’ve heard from our colleagues and the American people. Additional votes are expected through the weekend.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will go to the House floor for a third shot at the Speakership at 10 a.m. on Friday, a spokesperson said.
The GOP’s Speaker nominee scrapped his plans for a third vote on Thursday as marathon meetings drug into the evening, but produced no signs that he made progress in swaying holdouts.
— Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks
Rep. John Rutherford (Fla.) confirmed Thursday he is still against Jordan for Speaker following the Speaker designate’s meeting with holdouts.
Asked if he believes there is no path forward for Jordan’s Speakership, Rutherford told reporters, “Correct and that’s what the meeting was about.”
Rutherford did not vote for Jordan on either of the first two rounds of voting, instead voting for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)
— Miranda Nazzaro and Mychael Schnell
Reps. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Fla.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) are still opposing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker after meeting with the Ohio Republican Thursday afternoon.
Gimenez told reporters that he plans to vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) again on the House floor after previously voting for him in the first two ballots.
“He was listening to us and he had some points. And it was it was good frank conversation,” Gimenez said. “I, you know, I want to thank him for the opportunity. I thought that it was it was productive, but it did not change my mind.”
Kelly said he plans to back Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), noting that he is “supporting the guy that I voted for and who won the election on October 11.” Kelly voted for Scalise on the first ballot but voted for former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on the second.
-Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said Thursday he received four death threats for not supporting Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)’s speakership bid, marking the latest lawmaker to receive such threats in recent days.
“So far, I’ve had four death threats, I’ve been evicted from my office in … Colorado — I have notice of an eviction because the landlord is mad with my voting record on the Speaker issue,” Buck said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press Now.”
Buck said his office has six full-time people answering the phones, and still has 20,000 messages they were unable to get to.
Buck voted against Jordan on both ballots, instead voting for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)
When asked about a heated exchange between former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday, Buck said the barrage of calls and threats to multiple lawmakers is partly to blame for the “temper” among members.
“And everybody in the conference is getting this, so it’s natural,” Buck said. “Family members have been approached and threatened … all kinds of things are going on. There’s going to be some tension.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
Jordan has left a meeting with opponents of his Speakership bid.
He did not answer any questions from reporters.
— Mychael Schnell
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said he still backs a plan to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as House Republicans struggle to unite behind one candidate.
“In the absence of an immediate resolution, we must empower Speaker Pro-Tempore Patrick McHenry to serve as Speaker temporarily to allow us to get back to work, move important legislation, while we settle on a permanent Speaker,” he said in a statement after meeting with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
He said that the “best thing” to happen next “is for cooler heads to prevail, past grievances to be dropped, and for Republicans to concede that ousting Kevin was a mistake and set things right.”
Lawler has opposed Jordan in both Speaker ballots so far.
— Lauren Sforza
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is currently huddling with some of his holdouts as he looks for a path to the gavel amid mounting GOP opposition.
Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are also in the meeting.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) is a ”fine gentleman,” and has accepted his apology following reports of a heated exchange between the lawmakers during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday.
A source in the room told The Hill Bost was “ready to lunge across the room,” following a heated interaction between former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Gaetz.
“Mike Bost is a fine, fine gentleman, he gets emotional at times,” Gaetz told reporters on Thursday. “He apologized, I fully accept this apology.”
Another source told The Hill the situation unfolded after McCarthy mentioned Gaetz by name while speaking at the mics during the meeting. Gaetz stood up to “kind of interrupt him and say something,” per the source in the room.
McCarthy then shot back, telling Gaetz to “sit your ass down,” the source said.
At that point, the source said Bost was “ready to lunge across the room.”
McCarthy claimed he did not yet at Gaetz. Meanwhile, Gaetz said he thought McCarthy “was yielding to me since he had mentioned me.”
— Miranda Nazzaro, Emily Brooks, Mychael Schnell
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) is defending his resolution to expand the powers of Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), saying that the lack of a Speaker is a risk to national security.
“Without a Speaker, the U.S. is not able to sufficiently respond to the national security threats we and our allies face today. When my 8 Republican colleagues decided to vacate the chair, they clearly didn’t have a plan beyond fundraising,” Joyce wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“By empowering the Speaker Pro Tempore to preside over leg. business, we can respond to the horrific terrorist attacks in Israel while the House continues to choose our next Speaker. Anyone who is not onboard with this is not acting in good governance & weakening US defense,” he added.
Many Republicans have come out against Joyce’s proposal, with a handful saying that the plan is already dead. Joyce has maintained, however, that it is not dead as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) meets with Republican holdouts before potentially holding a third vote.
— Lauren Sforza
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) called the resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) the “biggest ‘F U’ to Republican voters,” while arguing the GOP does not “deserve the majority” if they go along with the plan.
“It’s the biggest ‘F U’ to Republican voters I’ve ever seen,” Banks told reporters on Thursday.
Calling it a “giant mistake” to give Democrats control in the chamber, Banks told reporters, “We don’t deserve the majority if we go along with a plan to give the Democrats control over the House of Representatives … it’s a giant betrayal.”
— Emily Brooks and Miranda Nazzaro
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said she would “strongly oppose” any effort to work with Democrats to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) to act as temporary Speaker and reiterated her support for Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid.
“The people across #ny21 and America can rest assured that I strongly oppose any attempt to create a Democrat backed coalition government,” she wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I will vote to support Jim Jordan for Speaker on the House Floor. We must work to unify Republicans as the last line of defense to save America.”
— Sarah Fortinsky
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said he expects that there will be a third Speaker vote on Thursday.
“I’m voting for Jim Jordan, but I don’t agree with him on every subject. And I certainly don’t agree that what would be best for the House of Representatives is a temporary Speaker Pro Tem. I think we need to elect a speaker,” he told reporters.
“I think we’ve got great folks in our conference. I think Jim Jordan sits atop that list and I look forward to voting for him again today,” he said.
When pressed further on whether they will be a third Speaker ballot, he said that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) made a “soft announcement” saying he will go back to the floor. He also said that Jordan intends to have former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) nominate him from the floor.
-Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) said that his proposal to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is not dead, despite comments from several of his GOP colleagues.
“I didn’t hear it was dead. I think there are some of these folks in there who wish it was dead,” he said.
Joyce said that he will continue working to address the concerns of members and bring it up “in time.”
— Emily Brooks