The House of Representatives failed to elect a new speaker Tuesday as the Republican majority was unable to unify behind a candidate.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was nominated as speaker on the House floor Monday after he won an internal Republican straw poll last Friday for the position. However, Jordan could not unify his party in a majority vote on the House floor.
The vote was 200 for Jordan, 212 for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and 20 for other Republicans. Jordan needed 217 votes to clinch the position. It is unclear when the House will try to vote for a speaker again.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected speaker in January on a historically high 15th ballot after struggling to gain the support of his Republican colleagues. He was then removed as speaker in an October vote — marking the first time in U.S. history a speaker of the House was ousted, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Republicans subsequently scrambled to find a new speaker for their House majority. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) won an internal Republican vote against Jordan for the party’s choice of speaker. But Scalise failed to unify the party to gain a majority on the House floor, so a vote was not called, and he dropped out of the running last Thursday.
Jordan negotiated with members over the weekend and made progress with influential, moderate members of the party who endorsed him on Monday. Such members included House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert, as reported by The Dallas Express. McCarthy and former President Donald Trump also endorsed Jordan.
Opponents of Jordan’s bid largely favored McCarthy, Scalise, and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY). Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said he believes supporters of Jordan’s run for the speakership disrespected Republican rules that direct members to unify behind a candidate on the House floor after an internal vote.
“You don’t have a process where I play by the rules and some people can’t — and they get what they wanted, and now I’m supposed to play by the rules,” Bacon told reporters Monday night.
The speaker debacle in the House comes amid an escalating war between Israel and Hamas. Members of both parties in the House have expressed a need to provide emergency relief to Israel but are without an elected leader, The New York Times reported.
Congress is also debating how to pass funding measures to avoid a shutdown next month.