October 20, 2023
Representative Jim Jordan has just lost a third ballot for Speaker of the House.
And this time – two major things happened. One – the vote totals got worse for him and two — the Democrat minority leader actually received more votes than he did.
Final vote on the third ballot – 210 for Hakeem Jeffries and 194 for Jim Jordan.
Jordan lost 25 of his own Republican members who voted for someone other than him. On the second ballot 22 Republicans voted against him and on the first ballot 20 Republicans voted against him. There are definitely some absences today. One Republican who is a Jordan supporter is in Israel. And two Democrats are absent.
Now I know you’re going to ask – if Hakeem Jeffries got more votes than Jim Jordan – why isn’t he the speaker? Because he needed the majority of those present and voting. Because of those absences today, he would have needed 215 votes. 210 is not 215.
So we have no House Speaker.
Now the bigger question is – what’s going to happen? Is Kim Jordan going to keep this up. Will Representative Patrick McHenry’s role as Speaker Pro Tem be expanded so at least the house can open for business? Or will there be another Republican who comes forward who can actually win the majority.
