The drama surrounding the House of Representatives continued on Wednesday morning as Jim Jordan and his supporters failed once again to pass a floor vote to elect him as Speaker. Tumultuous deliberations within the Republican party last week saw a handful of names in play for the position of speaker; as a result of far-right Freedom Caucus representatives, however, Jordan eventually emerged as the Party’s nominee.
Jordan and his supporters’ first attempt to vote on the bid for speaker failed on Tuesday, out of 221 House Republicans, 20 voted in opposition. Today’s vote, while unlikely to result in a successful election, was an important indicator for Jordan and his supporters insofar as gauging the road ahead. Had the number of Republican holdouts decreased significantly it would have certainly galvanized Jordan, his cheerleader Matt Gaetz, and their allies to continue to push to reach the critical 217 number.
Wednesday’s vote, however, showed that opposition to Jordan’s nomination actually increased by 10% as two additional Republicans voted in favor of other candidates and brought the total number of members opposing Jordan’s bid to 22.
As it stands, the strongest of Jordan supporters have likely not decided on an alternative path forward; on Wednesday afternoon following the vote, they took to social media to galvanize supporters to continue badgering the holdout Republicans. This could change in the coming days, Jordan himself is already entertaining the idea that, outside a successful election, pro tempore speaker Patrick McHenry be given more power. McHenry however, has been extremely vocal about wanting to distance himself from the speaker race and has said publicly that he doesn’t support efforts to grant him more powers.
Speaking to reporters, former speaker Kevin McCarthy advises his colleagues, saying “I would take the time right now to talk and listen to members.”
NY Rep. Nicole Malliotakis calls the inner-party opposition childish. “Like, this is serious. This is the United States Congress. We’re trying to elect a speaker, and you’re just like throwing out, like, random names of people who are not running or are not even members of the House.”
Ironically, the Republican representatives who stand in opposition to Jordan and his radical cabal of core supporters understand this notion profoundly. This is the United States Congress, one of the most revered institutions in our democracy, one not to be entrusted to a “legislative terrorist” like Jordan.
Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) was vocal in his opposition on the House floor, stating “He supports an extreme agenda and is hellbent on banning abortion nationwide, gutting Medicare, gutting Social Security, and giving cover to January 6th attackers. Those aren’t the values we share.”
Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas speaks to “profound” opposition within the party. “All I can tell you is that the tactics that they have employed against me, the publishing of my office phone number, and the messages, whether it’s conservative media or anybody else, this is all a result of going after people who do not basically represent the viewpoint of a whole lot of hardcore right-wing conservatives.” He says he and his staff have been “cussed out, they’ve been threatened… it’s been nonstop. Most of them are out-of-state calls.”
Throughout the weekend Conservative politicians and pundits have been publishing phone numbers of their colleagues who still stood against Jordan’s bid for speaker, urging and galvanizing supporters to call their representatives to change their minds.
Mobilizing the attitude and emotions of the mob to force Republican politicians to their knees is strongly reminiscent of the Trump-induced election denialism that was rampant following 2020. Two-thirds of House Republicans did not vote to certify President Joe Biden’s victory, and representatives that entertained the notion that the election was not fraudulent did so to aggressive backlash from within the party.
The way forward for Republicans and for the House isn’t clear. Jim Jordan and his supporters may continue forcing his name and stressing the party holdouts. There is also a chance that, with Democrat support, McCarthy makes a return as speaker. The possibility is open as well for five Republicans to flip and support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, although this seems to be the least likely scenario.
