Jordan gets GOP nod, but divisions persist

by Amee LaTour - 10/13/23 4:47 PM ET

Evening Report

Friday, October 13

Jordan gets GOP nod in scramble for Speaker

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Friday afternoon won a secret ballot among House Republicans to become the next Speaker, but divisions among the GOP remain more than a week and a half after the position was vacated.

It’s the second time this week Republicans have voted to put forward a nominee for Speaker and came after previous Speaker-designate Steve Scalise (R-La.) pulled out of the race in the face of budding GOP resistance.

Jordan won 124 votes among his GOP colleagues in the secret tally Friday, more than the 99 votes he got when he went up against Scalise earlier in the week (Scalise got 113 then). Little-known Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) threw his name into the race earlier Friday and got more than 80 votes against Jordan.

“I don’t necessarily want to be the Speaker of the House. … I want a House that functions correctly, but the House is not functioning correctly right now,” Scott said earlier Friday.
“I don’t know if anyone can get to 217 in our conference,” he added.

Jordan, who as chair of the House Judiciary Committee is one of the leaders of the GOP’s impeachment effort against President Biden, will still need to lock up the support of dozens of Republicans in a floor vote to win the gavel.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said earlier Friday afternoon he’d vote for Jordan. But the Ohio Republican can only afford to lose support from a handful of Republicans assuming all Democrats vote against his bid.

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CATCH UP QUICK

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Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it’s stepping up efforts to enforce policies on violence and misinformation amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Supreme Court added a second case related to the Chevron doctrine, which concerns executive agencies’ authority to enact regulations.

Israel-Hamas War

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they’ve carried out raids in Gaza over the past day to locate hostages taken by Hamas and “eliminate the threat of terrorists.”

Early Friday, the IDF called on around 1 million people in Gaza City to evacuate ahead of a ground operation.
The United Nations warned trying to move that many people in 24 hours would be disastrous.
UNICEF warned about the killing of children in Gaza and urged a ceasefire.

At least 2,800 people in Israel and Gaza have been killed in the conflict that began last weekend, when Hamas militants killed more than 1,000 people in Israel and took scores of hostages.

Related news: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will lead a congressional delegation to Israel this weekend.

📊 FRIDAY FIGURES

Kennedy holds double-digit support in three-way race

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday he’ll run for president as an independent, instead of challenging President Biden in the Democratic primary.

Three polls, conducted mostly before Kennedy made the switch official but after news of it broke, showed Kennedy polling in double digits, with Biden and former President Trump tied within the margins of error.

Madeline Monroe, The Hill / Flourish

In a Fox News poll of 1,007 registered voters, Trump and Biden were tied at 41 percent each, while Kennedy had 16 percent support.

In that poll, 13 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of Republicans said they’d back Kennedy, compared to 41 percent of independents.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll from Oct. 3-4 showed that, among 1,005 adults, Trump and Biden were roughly tied at 33 percent and 31 percent, respectively, while Kennedy had 14 percent.

That included 9 percent of Democrats, 13 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of independents.
The credibility interval (similar to a margin of error) for the full sample was 3.8 percentage points.

A Cygnal poll of 2,000 likely general election voters from Oct. 3-5 showed Trump and Biden roughly tied (40 percent and 39 percent, respectively), with Kennedy at 12 percent.

Ten percent of Democrats and Republicans each said they’d back Kennedy, along with 22 percent of independents.
The full-sample margin of error was 2.2 percentage points.

Keep in mind: There’s still more than a year to go. Political activist and left-wing philosopher Cornel West is also running as an independent.

We haven’t seen polling of a four-way contest, but the Fox News poll above found Trump with 45 percent, Biden with 43 percent and West with 9 percent in a hypothetical three-way contest.

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OP-EDS IN THE HILL

“Drought, migration and the fall of civilization: A cautionary tale” — Michael E. Mann, presidential distinguished professor and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at The University of Pennsylvania. (Read here)

“How this Supreme Court term could rein in bureaucracy in the US” —Adam Carrington, associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College. (Read here)