Jim Jordan tries to rally support ahead of House speaker vote: Highlights
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House Republicans return to Washington today, and a vote on the next speaker is expected at noon tomorrow.
Jim Jordan at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 4. Sarah Silbiger / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
The latest on the race for the speaker's gavel:
- Rep. Jim Jordan, of Ohio, became the second Republican nominated last week to be House speaker, besting Rep. Austin Scott, of Georgia, in a closed-door vote. He lost the first round to Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who subsequently withdrew when he couldn't rally the entire caucus behind him.
- Jordan must now try to round up 217 of the 221 House Republicans to back him in a floor vote. While some have said they would oppose him, others appear to be relenting and announcing they will get behind his bid.
- Democrats are backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York.
- The race was triggered when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., moved to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker and won a majority vote when all Democrats and eight Republicans voted against McCarthy. Gaetz has said he would support Jordan or Scalise.
Coverage on this live blog has ended. Follow the latest updates from NBC News here.
Massie says there's a 50% chance Jordan gets elected tomorrow
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said tonight that he thinks Jordan can get the 217 votes needed to be House speaker, but he's not sure when it'll happen.
"I absolutely think he can get to 217. I'd say there's a 50% chance of doing that tomorrow," he said.
Massie credited the votes Jordan has picked up so far to conversations Jordan had with members over the weekend, and not outside pressure from his allies.
"There is some pressure, but it's not really helpful at this point," he said.
"If the vote’s not unanimous, for instance, I think there’ll be pressure tomorrow."
Don Bacon says he's a 'no' on Jordan, will take ballots 'one at a time'
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he plans to vote for McCarthy.
"We'll take it one at a time, but I'm a no" on Jordan, Bacon said tonight when he was asked whether he would vote for McCarthy each time if there are multiple ballots.
"It's not about Jim," he said. "We need a speaker. We got a world on fire. But we didn’t put us here; I didn’t put us there. I feel the small group that took out Kevin and then blocked Steve has put us in this spot."
He said the group of McCarthy detractors "broke our rules and got rid of Kevin" and Scalise, and "now they want us to follow the rules and support Jim, and I don’t like that. I don’t play a game where the other guy can break the rules and win."
"We’ve had a minority of the majority dictate all of this, and it’s unacceptable," he said. "This is wrong what happened. There should be consequences."
Former police officer injured on Jan. 6 calls Jordan 'an insurrectionist'
Former Washington, D.C., Police Officer Michael Fanone said today that Jordan "has no place being second in line to the presidency."
"I witnessed the deadly assault on our democracy with my own eyes, which is why it absolutely disgusts me that extreme Republicans could choose an insurrectionist and election denier as their leader — someone who knew about January 6th ahead of time yet did nothing to stop it," Fanone said in a statement.
Fanone suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury in the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and resigned from the Metropolitan Police Department.
"This is a very dark time for our democracy and should serve as a wake up call to all Americans that we can never take our democracy for granted," he added.
What would Jordan do about funding the government?
During a conference meeting last week, Jordan told lawmakers that his plan for government funding would be to pass a continuing resolution before Nov. 17 to keep the government funded and then use the threat of a 1% across-the-board spending cut that will take effect at the end of year as leverage to force the Senate into negotiations.
GOP sources: Jim Jordan within 5-10 votes of getting elected speaker
Jordan is within 5 to 10 Republican votes away from securing the necessary 217 votes to get elected speaker of the House, according to Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., and a second source familiar with the matter.
“He’s within 5-10 votes probably,” Bucshon told NBC News on Monday, adding that he’s optimistic Jordan can get the votes on the first ballot, but that there may be multiple ballots.
A second source familiar with the matter, who wasn’t authorized to discuss it with reporters, confirmed that whip count.
There are 221 Republicans in the House and Jordan is not expected to get any Democratic support. He can afford no more than four defections.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez says 'pressure campaign' to back Jordan will never work on him
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said in an interview on "Meet the Press NOW" that the pressure campaign to support Jordan for speaker is "working on some" lawmakers, but said he still plans to vote for McCarthy.
"I’ll tell you what — it’ll never work on me," he said. "I’m committed to my vote. And no matter what you do...That’s the way I’m going to vote," Gimenez said about his intention to vote for McCarthy.
"I’m having real problems with Jim Jordan," he continued. "His followers are putting all kinds of misinformation about me that I’m somehow going to vote for Jeffries for all kinds of stuff. And that’s really kind of disappointing but also concerning to me."
What are Democrats doing?
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on "Meet the Press" that there had been “informal” conversations about some sort of bipartisan solution to the current GOP standoff, but nothing formal.
As for what Democrats would want, he said, “We want to ensure that votes are taken on bills that have substantial Democratic support and substantial Republican support so that the extremists aren’t able to dictate the agenda.” Democrats will also meet today at 6:30 p.m. in the Capitol.
Democrats refuse to help GOP out of House speaker mess, trashing Jim Jordan as an ‘insurrectionist’
Democrats are standing firm in their refusal to bail out the House Republican majority as it struggles to elect a new speaker 10 days after booting McCarthy.
They’re also dialing up the rhetoric against the GOP’s new nominee for speaker, prominent Donald Trump ally Jordan of Ohio, blasting him as an insurrectionist, election denier and extremist.
“House Republicans have selected as their nominee to be the speaker of the people’s House the chairman of the chaos caucus, a defender in a dangerous way of dysfunction, and an extremist extraordinaire,” Jeffries said Friday on the steps of the Capitol, flanked by dozen of Democratic lawmakers. “His focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories and driving division amongst the American people.”
House speaker vote planned for tomorrow as Jordan rallies support
Jordan spent the weekend trying to rally holdouts to his side and ensure he can get to 217 votes on the House floor.
Republican lawmaker says a deal with Democrats ‘will have to be done’ if GOP can’t break speaker impasse
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, says a deal “will have to be done” with Democrats to choose a new House speaker if Republicans are unable to elect someone on their own after McCarthy was ousted from the position this month.
During an interview Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Turner was asked whether he could envision a scenario in which Republicans could work with Democrats to find a “mutually acceptable speaker.”
Turner, who chairs the Intelligence Committee, said although he would “prefer there to be a Republican solution” and believes Jordan would be an “excellent speaker,” the path to electing someone could come down to Republicans reaching across the aisle to make it happen.
