Rep. Jim Jordan chosen as House Republican nominee for speaker

10/15/2023 / By Arsenio Toledo

The House Republican caucus has chosen Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as the GOP’s nominee for Speaker of the House following days of Republican infighting over who should be the nominee.

Jordan, a leading member of House GOP’s Freedom Caucus, was chosen in a private House Republican caucus vote, winning by 124 votes to 81 against late challenger Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, considered a close ally of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who previously run for the position. (Related: Government once again at risk of shutdown following Republican infighting over who will be the next House speaker.)

Before Jordan’s nomination, Scalise, an ally of ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and seen as a more moderate candidate, won the nomination against Jordan in a previous contest with the backing of most of the GOP’s more moderate wings.

However, Scalise later abandoned his bid after failing to convince a handful of holdouts to abandon their support for Jordan on the House floor. It remains far from certain whether Jordan can avoid a similar fate.

Jordan has uphill battle to unite House GOP majority

Jordan’s next goal is to unite all of his colleagues from the deeply divided House Republican caucus ahead of a public vote on the House floor. Following the House Republican caucus’ nomination of Jordan, it held a second “validation vote” asking representatives whether they would support Jordan’s nomination on the House floor.

In this second round of voting, Jordan did not pick up more support, with only 152 House Republicans saying they would vote for him on the floor. Fifty-five said they would not support him, and one voted present. This means that about a quarter of the GOP conference will oppose his nomination for speaker.

Jordan is unlikely to expect any aid from Democrats, who have condemned the ally of former President Donald Trump as an “extremist extraordinaire” and warned that his nomination would lead to more instability in the House.

“The House Republican civil war continues to rage on, miring the Congress in chaos, dysfunction and extremism,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is also the House Democratic nominee for speaker. “House Republicans have chosen to triple down on the chaos, triple down on the dysfunction and triple down on the extremism.”

Jeffries has called on moderate Republicans to “break with the extremists” and join the Democrats in forming a bipartisan coalition in the House.

Despite his potential speakership being uncertain, Jordan is expected to move a vote to the House floor quickly, possibly within a week. House Democratic leaders have already summoned all of their members away from the Capitol back to Washington in anticipation of a possible vote.

Without a speaker, the House continues to be paralyzed. It has been unable to respond to the recent conflict in Israel and Palestine, a priority concern for many Republicans, and it has also been unable to take up debates regarding the next government budget.

Watch this short clip discussing the House Republican Conference backing Rep. Jim Jordan as its nominee for House speaker.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.