Jim Jordan’s Dream Of Being Speaker Of The House Is Sinking Fast

Last updated on October 16th, 2023 at 04:36 pm

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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) thinks he can wear down his opposition and become the next Speaker of the House, but 20 House Republicans are solid votes against him.

CNN’s Manu Raju reported:

I’ve got new reporting this morning on Jim Jordan’s quickly narrowing path to the Speakership. A senior Republican House member tells me he has spoken to 20 Republicans who are vowing to block Jordan if he forces a vote on Tuesday.

He can only afford to lose four. A big reason why? Republicans don’t want to reward the hardliners who ousted Kevin McCarthy and sunk Steve Scalise. This member told me, we can’t reward this behavior. He said, we can’t let a small group be dictators. But another source familiar with the matter says Jordan has had positive conversations with his colleagues this weekend and is ready to force that Tuesday vote.

Jordan believes he can eventually convince the holdouts to back him.

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Jim Jordan believes the same thing that Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise believed. Jordan thinks that he can wear down his Republican opponents and force them to support him by grinding through as many House speaker votes as it takes.

It took Kevin McCarthy 15 votes to succeed with this strategy and flip 8 no votes. Given that Jordan faces nearly three times as many no votes, he could need a month to wear down his opposition, or the McCarthy voters are so mad over their person being ousted that they may never support Jordan.

The reason why Republicans have not wanted to bring this fight to the floor is that a floor vote opens the door for Democrats and moderate Republicans to come together and nominate a coalition bipartisan speaker.

Jim Jordan is sinking fast, and the odds are good that his dream of being Speaker is already dead.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association