WASHINGTON \u2014 House GOP support for Jim Jordan of Ohio to be the next speaker climbed on Monday. But he still appeared short of the votes needed to win the election on the floor.<\/p>\n
Republicans began returning to Washington on Monday night ahead of a floor vote scheduled for noon Tuesday. They huddled behind closed doors in their latest effort to elect a new speaker after a two-week scramble that has frozen most legislative activities.<\/p>\n
The fly-in night meeting was lightly attended. But based on commentary from lawmakers coming and going, it was clear that Jordan, who can only afford to lose four votes and still get elected, has some more work to do.<\/p>\n
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said he will not vote for Jordan and will instead vote for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican who ended his bid for the job last week after it became clear he was short of votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody\u2019s trying to get my vote, the last thing you want to do is try to intimidate or pressure me because then I close out entirely,\u201d Diaz-Balart, the top GOP foreign aid appropriator, said. \u201cSo that\u2019s where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., also said he\u2019d vote for Scalise on the floor. Kelly didn\u2019t like the way things happened last week, with Scalise feeling pressure to drop out despite winning the initial conference election over Jordan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Jim Jordan. I think he\u2019s great,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI just don\u2019t understand if it doesn\u2019t go your way on the first vote how these people could go into the conference and talk about what a great team they have when they turn their back on exactly what we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly also circulated a resolution that would declare Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., the current speaker pro tempore, as an elected speaker pro tempore with expanded authorities to bring legislation to the floor at least until a new speaker is elected, but no later than Nov. 17 \u2014 the next deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said he was currently a \u201cno\u201d on Jordan\u2019s bid and that at least part of his concern was Jordan\u2019s stance on the 2020 presidential election results. Buck voted to certify the results, while Jordan did not. But he said leaving Monday\u2019s meeting that he was open-minded and planned to meet with Jordan again.<\/p>\n
A secret-ballot vote among Republicans on Friday showed only 152 would back him in a floor vote for speaker, with 55 saying they\u2019d oppose him.<\/p>\n
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., repeated his stance on Monday night that he\u2019ll vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to regain his job, despite the former speaker\u2019s endorsement of Jordan. Fellow Florida Republican John Rutherford said Friday in response to Jordan\u2019s bid that he planned to vote for McCarthy, according to an interview that aired on C-SPAN.<\/p>\n
Rep. Mike Lawler, a freshman representing the suburbs north of New York City, told CNN on Monday that he\u2019d vote for McCarthy too. Lawler is among the most vulnerable Republicans, and his district backed President Joe Biden by over 10 percentage points in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not the only vulnerable GOP lawmaker with concerns. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican whose district voted for Biden by over 6 percentage points in 2020, said he wouldn\u2019t vote for Jordan on a first ballot but didn\u2019t rule out voting for him on subsequent ballots. He said Jordan had grown and he must represent all Republicans in the job.<\/p>\n
Voters in Rep. Anthony D\u2019Esposito\u2019s New York district backed Biden by nearly 15 points in 2020. D\u2019Esposito said he was still on the fence about how he\u2019ll vote on Tuesday and was planning to talk to other members from Long Island. But he said he had concerns about how the process had played out and that it was \u201cless about Jim Jordan and more about getting government back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, a second-term lawmaker who won her 2020 race by just 6 votes before widening her advantage last year, said she wasn\u2019t convinced yet to back Jordan. \u201cI think we still need conversations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., told reporters she opposed forcing a floor vote before there\u2019s clear consensus on a speaker and that she had concerns with alleged hardball tactics by Jordan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe these intimidation techniques \u2026 are not acceptable,\u201d Spartz said. \u201cI didn\u2019t like what Kevin [McCarthy] did last time. And I hope Jim [Jordan] is going to change his views on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s lobbying did pay off with at least one of the vulnerable New Yorkers. Late Monday, Rep. Marc Molinaro posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the House needed to get back to work on Israel aid, among other things.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo Jim Jordan and I agree on everything? Of course not,\u201d Molinaro wrote. \u201d But, he has assured me that my voice and the concerns of those I serve in Upstate New York will be heard. I will vote for Jim Jordan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bloc of opposition emerged after momentum appeared to be shifting in Jordan\u2019s direction earlier Monday with some key Republicans publicly backing him.<\/p>\n
The group of GOP lawmakers initially queasy about a Jordan speakership included staunch supporters of Scalise\u2019s bid for the gavel \u2014 which quickly fizzled last week due largely to opposition from Jordan backers \u2014 and defense hawks uneasy about Jordan\u2019s government funding plans.<\/p>\n
Jordan appeared to be quelling some concerns. Three influential defense hawks \u2014 Armed Services Chairman Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., and Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas \u2014 pledged to back Jordan on Monday after hearing more about his stances on government spending.<\/p>\n
McCaul said Jordan pledged support for an aid package covering Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region that would also carry domestic border security funding. Jordan has previously been skeptical of additional Ukraine funding.<\/p>\n
Outlining his support, McCaul also said political games would only embolden U.S. foes and suggested Jordan could hold freewheeling GOP members in line.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcCarthy couldn\u2019t control the Freedom Caucus,\u201d he said. \u201cJordan\u2019s the only one that can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Calvert, two other senior appropriators \u2014 Robert B. Aderholt of Alabama and Mark Amodei of Nevada \u2014 tossed their support behind Jordan on Monday, according to statements on X and comments to reporters.<\/p>\n
So did some Scalise allies like Ann Wagner of Missouri and Vern Buchanan of Florida, who initially raised concerns about Jordan\u2019s failure to give Scalise a fair shot at the gavel when he\u2019d won a majority of the conference\u2019s votes.<\/p>\n
Another Biden district vulnerable lawmaker who\u2019s also a defense hawk, Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., is backing Jordan. He said a bit of a charm offensive on the Ohioan\u2019s part has been paying dividends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been having intimate conversations over the weekend with folks and talking them through the strategy, talking him through his platform, and it\u2019s been successful,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Republicans may also be reacting to heat from the right flank of the party that supports Jordan, an ally of former President Donald Trump and longtime agitator for hard-line conservative causes. Jordan was a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, though he\u2019s transformed into a leadership-friendly McCarthy ally in recent years and gained the House Judiciary gavel.<\/p>\n
Even with holdouts remaining, Jordan appeared ready to test detractors\u2019 appetite for blocking him in a high-stakes public setting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt good walking into the conference, I feel even better now,\u201d Jordan said after the Monday night meeting. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a few more people we\u2019re going to talk to, listen to, and then we\u2019ll have a vote tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., predicted this speaker election could take multiple rounds of voting on the floor, an echo of McCarthy\u2019s 15 ballots to get the job in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t expect anything less from him than a fight,\u201d Hern said, \u201cand that\u2019s what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his part, Garcia predicted Jordan\u2019s battle wouldn\u2019t last as long as McCarthy\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re doing an over-under, I think it\u2019ll be less than 15 rounds tomorrow,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
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