Trump loyalist Jim Jordan was on track to lose again on the second ballot for US House speaker Wednesday as voting in the round continued, imperiling his candidacy for the job.
Enough Republicans cast their votes for other speaker candidates to deny Jordan the majority of votes he would need for election to speaker. However, lawmakers can switch their position until the vote closes.
Twenty Republican lawmakers abandoned the GOP speaker nominee in the first round of voting Tuesday.
The House has been paralyzed since the Oct. 3 ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and unable to address an impending government shutdown and an escalating war in the Middle East.
A key Jordan ally warned shortly before Wednesday’s vote that the Ohio Republican would likely lose ground from Tuesday.
“Just so there’s no surprises: Jordan will likely have FEWER votes today than yesterday — as I expected,” Representative Scott Perry said on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “This is the fight - which Jim Jordan represents - to end the status quo, and it ain’t easy.”
Perry is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republicans that Jordan helped found.
{{/usCountry}}Perry is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republicans that Jordan helped found.
{{/usCountry}}Just before the vote, Jordan stressed he received support from 90% of Republicans on the the first ballot.
Other lawmakers on Wednesday said that Jordan would continue to come up short, should he continue his bid for speaker.
“This candidate does not and will not be able to get the Republican votes to become speaker,” Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, who has opposed Jordan’s candidacy, said. “So then now I think all of us have to get together and figure out what’s next.”
Jordan, a conservative known for his bombastic personality and insurgent tactics, lost far more Republican votes on the first ballot than the eight or 10 some GOP lawmakers projected. Among his opponents are a group of traditional Republicans who sit on the powerful Appropriations Committee.