House Republicans Vote to Drop Jim Jordan as House Speaker Nominee After Losing Third Ballot
Oct. 20 2023, Published 3:12 p.m. ET
House Republicans voted to drop Jim Jordan as the House Speaker nominee after the Ohio congressman lost a third ballot for the role, RadarOnline.com can confirm.
In a sudden development to come after Jordan lost a third House Speaker ballot on Friday morning by 25 Republican votes, GOP congress members reportedly voted to oust him as the nominee in a secret ballot held behind closed doors.
According to the Washington Post, Jordan only received 86 votes in favor of continuing his campaign during the secret ballot.
House Republicans will reportedly return to the floor on Monday to “start the process over again.”
Sources said they will hold a speaker candidate forum at 6:30 PM on Monday and then hold another vote for a “new speaker designate” on Tuesday.
“We have to come together and I think we will,” Jordan said after being dropped.
As RadarOnline.com reported, the GOP-controlled Congress has been in chaos since former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was booted from the position on October 3.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was set to succeed McCarthy, but the Louisiana congressman ultimately dropped out of the race last week after he also failed to garner enough Republican votes.
Congress then held a vote to name Jordan the next House Speaker on Tuesday, but Jordan was rejected after 20 Republicans voted against him for the role.
Jordan lost a second ballot for the House Speaker position held on Wednesday by 22 Republican votes, and that number increased to 25 during the third ballot on Friday.
The decision to drop Jordan as the House Speaker nominee on Friday came just minutes after the Ohio congressman vowed to continue to fight for the position.
"We only lost a couple,” Jordan said when asked about the third ballot that he once again lost. “We had a couple absent who would have been for us.”
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“We’re going to try,” he added when asked about a potential fourth ballot. “I think so. You know, we have a conference here in like an hour.”
It was during that conference that House Republicans voted to drop him as the House Speaker nominee.
Matt Gaetz, who initiated McCarthy’s ouster more than two weeks ago, complained about Jordan’s downfall after the Ohio congressman was dropped on Friday.
“The most popular Republican in the United States Congress was just knifed by a secret ballot, in a private meeting in the basement of the Capitol,” Gaetz said. “It’s as swampy as swamp gets. And Jim Jordan deserves better than that.”
Meanwhile, several House Republicans – including Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Byron Donalds of Florida – suggested that they will run for House Speaker now that Jordan is out.
“I hope we have some other people up for the job,” McCarthy said of the ongoing House Speaker fiasco. “I’m concerned about where we go from here.”