Jordan fails to win House speakership in second vote

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Republican Rep. Jim Jordan again failed to win the House speaker’s gavel in a second vote on Wednesday, faring worse than he did during the first round of voting one day earlier. The loss raises serious questions over whether the Ohio Republican has a viable path forward as he confronts steep opposition and the House remains in a state of paralysis.

Despite the defeat, Jordan has vowed to stay in the race and said the House plans to hold a third speaker vote on Thursday at noon ET. Without a speaker, the chamber is effectively frozen, a precarious position that comes amid conflict abroad and a potential government shutdown next month.

The conservative Republican’s struggle to gain traction has also highlighted the limits of Donald Trump’s influence in the speaker’s race after the former president endorsed Jordan.

Here's what else you should know about today's developments:

• Second ballot: 22 Republicans voted against Jordan on Wednesday. That is two more than the 20 that voted against him yesterday, showing that the opposition against the candidate has grown. There were four new Republican votes against Jordan and two that flipped into his column. Given the narrow House GOP majority, Jordan can only afford to lose a handful of votes and the high number of votes against him puts the gavel far out of reach. Opponents to Jordan’s bid so far have included centrist Republicans concerned that the face of the House GOP would be a conservative hardliner as well as lawmakers still furious at the small group of Republicans who forced out former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then opposed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s bid for the gavel.
• Frustration among Republicans: As the speaker battle drags on, tensions and frustration have risen among House Republicans. Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart told CNN on Wednesday Jordan would lose a “bigger chunk” of GOP floor votes on a third ballot. Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas derided what he called the “attack, attack, attack” tactics of Jordan allies against his Republican opponents: "Attack the members who don’t agree with you, attack them, beat them into submission,” he said. The wife of holdout GOP Rep. Don Bacon received anonymous text messages, with one reading, "Your husband will not hold any political office ever again. What a disappointment and failure he is."
• Other options: Republican Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio is leading the charge to expand the powers of the interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, though such a move would not be without controversy and has divided Republicans. Joyce’s resolution, according to sources familiar with it, would grant McHenry more power over the House until either early January or until a new permanent speaker is elected.
• Jordan presses on: Asked what he hoped to accomplish tomorrow that he couldn't do today, Jordan said Republicans are going to keep working as the House needs a speaker. Pushed on whether that's going to be him at this point, the Ohio Republican said, "I believe so, yes." 

Interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry didn't rule out supporting a GOP resolution to expand his powers in the role, telling CNN his focus is on getting Rep. Jim Jordan elected after the speaker designate lost his second vote for the gavel on Wednesday. 

"My focus is on electing Jim Jordan speaker," he told CNN when asked if he would support the amendment from GOP Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio to expand his power if it was brought to the floor.  

The North Carolina Republican said House GOP leadership wanted the option for another speaker vote at noon ET on Thursday, but that it is ultimately up to Jordan. 

Jordan told CNN the plan is for the House to gather again for a third speaker vote at noon ET Thursday.

Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a chief Republican opponent of Jim Jordan’s speakership bid, told CNN on Wednesday that the speaker designee would lose a “bigger chunk” of GOP floor votes on a third ballot.

Diaz-Balart, an 11-term South Florida congressman, said he would “never” back Jordan for speaker, adding, “If he does it again, he’s going to lose a bigger chunk.”

Jordan lost a second vote for his speakership bid today, with 22 Republicans voting against him. Twenty Republicans opted not to back him on the first ballot on Tuesday.

Diaz-Balart has voted for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise for speaker on both floor votes so far.

The House is set for a third speaker vote at noon ET on Thursday.

 

House Republican supporters of a resolution to temporarily empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry are working to maximize GOP votes and educate members about the effort, multiple sources tell CNN. 

This comes as Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s allies have been actively trying to sink such a measure, deriding it as an abuse of power or an example of “coalition government.”

Because of the intraparty divisions, Democratic support would likely be needed to approve the measure. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN earlier today that his caucus has not yet made a decision on whether they'd back such a temporary solution.

But GOP proponents of the resolution want to have as much Republican buy-in as possible before they bring it to the floor, in order to guard against accusations that it’s a Democratic solution to their speaker impasse.

Republican Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio has been leading the charge over the effort. He was expected force a floor vote on a resolution as early as today but held off. After Jordan’s second failed floor vote for the speakership, Joyce told CNN he wants to have a meeting of the House GOP Conference to combat misinformation and make his case for the idea before his colleagues.

Joyce’s resolution, according to sources familiar with it, would empower McHenry until either early January or until a new permanent speaker is elected.

Empowering McHenry would expand his abilities beyond just administering a speaker vote to potentially moving legislation through the chamber, although the exact specifics aren't clear.

McHenry has been serving as interim speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the position earlier this month.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who lost a second vote for the speakership today, told CNN that the plan is for the House to gather again for a third speaker vote at noon ET Thursday.

Asked what he hoped to accomplish that he couldn't do today, Jordan said Republicans are going to keep working. He said the House needs a speaker. 

Pushed on whether that's going to be him at this point, the speaker designee said, "I believe so, yes."  

The GOP conference will not have a meeting tonight.

CNN's Melanie Zanona and Haley Talbot contributed reporting to this post.

Rep. Jim Jordan says he doesn't think there will be another floor vote tonight for House speaker, but the Ohio Republican is going to talk to interim Speaker Patrick McHenry about the schedule. 

Jordan, who lost a second floor vote for the speakership Wednesday, said "yes" when asked if he was going to stay in the race. He said the House has to get a speaker.

Asked whether a resolution that would empower McHenry should be brought up for a vote, Jordan said that would be a decision for the Republican Conference.

Empowering McHenry would expand his ability beyond just administering a speaker vote to potentially move legislation through the chamber, although the exact specifics aren't clear.

McHenry has been serving as interim speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the position earlier this month.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN on Wednesday that his caucus has not yet made a decision on whether to back a Republican resolution that would assert that interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry has legislative power overseeing the chamber floor on a temporary basis.

Jeffries said the first thing Democrats are aiming to achieve is to stop Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan's bid for the speakership.

The New York Democrat said that if Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce brings forward his resolution to empower McHenry and attempt to force a vote today, then Democrats would meet behind closed doors and decide whether to vote for it. Democratic votes are expected to be essential for the resolution's chances of passage because the GOP is split on such a measure. 

“We haven't had that discussion yet as a caucus,” Jeffries told CNN.

"The Republicans have to end this saga, as opposed to us having another futile effort to elevate and insurrectionists to lead the House of Representatives,” he added.

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, told CNN that Democrats hope Republicans will come to them after Jordan’s second failed speakership bid.

“The ball is in their court. This is their civil war. They’re the majority. They have to elect a speaker," Clark told CNN.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also said that it’s up to Republicans to make the first move.

“They have their majority, they won the election. It's their responsibility to elect their speaker," the California Democrat said. "Our leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has been magnificent in saying there's a path for us to work together. But clearly they have not taken advantage of that."

Pelosi also called it a "real triumph for democracy" that Jordan lost the floor vote today.

“Really, it's a big relief that whatever his name is didn't win today, because it would have been a horrible thing. Two steps away from the presidency,” she told CNN. 

Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack derided what he referred to as the “attack, attack, attack” tactics of allies of Speaker designee Jim Jordan against those members who have voted against his speakership bid.

“Frankly, just based on what I've been through -- I can only speak to myself and what my staff has been through over the last 24 or 48 hours -- it is obvious what the strategy has been: Attack, attack attack. Attack the members who don't agree with you, attack them, beat them into submission,” Womack said Wednesday.

Womack has backed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise in the two rounds of voting for the speakership so far.

The seven-term congressman said there was a big difference between the 20 GOP members who were initially opposed to Kevin McCarthy during the January speakership vote and the 20 lawmakers — now 22 after the second round of voting — who are opposed to Jordan. It's that distinction that Womack believes will ultimately deny Jordan the speaker's gavel. 

“The 20 in January all wanted something. The 20 now, they don't want anything. And so the level of opposition is profound,” Womack said as he left the House floor Wednesday “It's one thing when you want something and you have a chance to get it and there's an opportunity for you to move. It's a whole different ballgame when you are opposed on principle and start being attacked. And I can speak to it, because I've been attacked.”

“And it has not helped one iota,” Womack said. “That won’t work with us. So ... if the whole battle plan was to attack them, give him time to expose those members and go after them, then it's an abject failure. They didn't read the room very well.”