The U.S. House of Representatives recessed on Friday without voting on a new speaker after the House Republican Conference in a second, closed-door, secret ballot named Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio as Speaker designee.
Reports vary but according to journalist Greg Price the vote fell 152-55, earlier reports called the vote 124-81 but this was later corrected by Price and confirmed by Benny Johnson of Newsmax.
Chair of the Republican Conference Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) took to X to congratulate Jordan shortly after the vote. She wrote, “I want to congratulate my friend @Jim_Jordan on becoming Speaker-Designate. I support Jim Jordan to be the next Speaker of the House. Jim is a strong American First Warrior in our mission to save America. Let’s do this!
Price suggested that the vote should move promptly to the floor to have “those 55 vote in public on whether they want a good conservative as Speaker.”
At nearly 4PM EST, Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted to X, “BREAKING … House Republicans going home. JIM JORDAN is something like 60 votes short of the speakership.”
As Greg Price pointed out, a vote just wasn’t possible. Now behind the scenes, where none of us can see, the House GOP is about to have a weekend of frenetic activity, tense phone calls, and terse conversations. Of course, this is the exact kind of backroom dealings the American people have come to despise. Instead of this debate happening on the floor where it belongs and as Price suggests, it will happen in hushed tones behind closed doors.
In all odds, the House will return Monday and vote, because all of the hand-wringing and haranguing will have been done already, safely away from the cameras and the people.
Conversely, we could also see the inversion of what developed during the 2021 Speaker contest, except where a small group of conservatives stood, we could potentially see a House revolt led by pro-McCarthy loyalists.
Congressman Austin Scott wrote,
“I highly respect Jim Jordan. He is an asset to the Republican Party and our nominee for Speaker. Our conference has spoken, and now we must unite behind Jordan so we can get Congress back to work.”
Joining Benny Johnson for The Benny Show Rep. Corey Mills (R-FL) endorsed Jordan saying, “I endorsed Jim a long time ago. He’s exactly what we need for America right now… I may go back and forth across the Jordan River to save Americans, but it’s going to be Jim Jordan who actually saves America by taking the House… It’s about restoring America’s voice, not stealing its voice and allowing it to be sold to lobbyists and others.”
Even Senator Ted Cruz, while being unable to lend his vote, controversially lent his voice in support of Jordan, posting to X: “For years, I’ve stayed out of House leadership elections, but this time I endorsed @Jim_Jordan. Jim is a good friend and a strong conservative. My philosophy on political endorsements is to support the strongest conservative who can win. That is Jim Jordan.”