Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has been removed as the GOP's House speaker nominee after a third failed vote where he got even less support from his colleagues.
The development comes as there are several others who have joined the controversial race following the ousting of Kevin McCarthy from the position. In the third round of voting, Jordan had 25 Republicans vote against him, allowing him to only have 194 votes, which was far short of the required 217 to win the speaker race.
Jim Jordan Loses House Speaker Nomination
The lawmaker had previously indicated that was ready to push for more votes through the weekend in an attempt to secure the speaker's gavel. In an interview, he said that their plan over the weekend was to get a speaker elected to the House of Representatives as soon as possible in order to start helping the American people.
Jordan also called on Congress to "get to work" and cited the crisis in the Middle East as well as the looming government funding deadline on Nov. 17. It remains unclear what the next steps would be for the House GOP conference as some lawmakers have expressed support for the idea of giving Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, as per Fox News.
There have also been at least eight people who have emerged as potential candidates for the position after the removal of Jordan as nominee. Republican lawmakers are set to meet behind closed doors on Monday evening for a candidate forum before a conference-wide election via secret anonymous ballot on Tuesday.
On the other hand, Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern of Oklahoma was one of the first GOP lawmakers to put his hat in the ring on Friday afternoon. He said that they need to unify quickly, adding that there needs to be a different type of leader who has a proven track record of success.
McCarthy has also expressed his support of Rep. Tom Emmer, who currently serves as majority whip, to become the next House speaker. The lack of a speaker means that the House has remained effectively frozen for the past two weeks.
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GOP Struggles To Elect House Speaker
Many Republican lawmakers left the closed-door meeting on Friday sounding more confused than ever regarding the path forward and who is best to elect as House speaker. Many others also expressed frustration at the situation and called for reflection after the collapse of Jordan's speakership nomination, according to CNN.
A source close to Emmer said that the majority whip plans to run an "entirely positive" campaign for House speaker and will not attack his opponents in any way. He is supposedly betting that it would be a welcome change of style after weeks of infighting in a bitterly divided GOP where some lawmakers have also seen death threats over their speaker votes.
Lawmakers have also started to feel that their colleagues are partially to blame for the outpouring of bile amid the House speaker race. After Rep. Drew Ferguson's family started to receive death threats over his vote for Jordan, he said that he would not support a "bully" for speaker, said the Associated Press.
