The House of Representatives began voting on a replacement Speaker for the ousted Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.
Unsurprisingly, in the first round of voting, the House was unable to select a Speaker.
Most Republicans united behind Jim Jordan, but ‘most’ was not enough — a few defectors were enough to deny him the necessary majority. Democrats were united behind their candidate, Hakeem Jeffries, but remain a minority, with Jeffries 7 votes short of a victory — still more than Jordan received..
The final tally had Jeffries in the lead with 212 votes, followed by Jordan, who received 200, and a total of 20 for other candidates, including 6 for Kevin McCarthy. A candidate needed 217 to be elected.
Elise Stefanik nominated Jordan in glowing terms, calling him a gentleman and patriot, and contrasting him with President Joe Biden (who is not running for Speaker). She repeated GOP talking points falsely claiming that the southern border is “open” and that Biden opposes parents trying to be involved in their children’s education.
Pete Aguilar stood to nominate Jeffries as the Democratic candidate, describing Jordan as an “insurrection insider” and “architect of a national abortion ban,” and warned that a vote for him is a vote for partisanship and division.
He posited Jeffries as the candidate willing to reach across the aisle for bipartisan cooperation, and Jordan as a way to “keep taking marching orders” from Donald Trump.
Republicans Don Bacon and Lori Chavez-DeRemer were the first to cast votes for Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted earlier this month, and before long, Steve Scalise (who had been the nominee for a brief period last week), Mike Garcia, and Lee Zeldin had also been offered up as candidates.
There were a few mildly dramatic moments in the process, as when Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly was booed after he referred to Jordan as a “noted insurrectionist,” but mostly, the vote simply set the stage for what could be a full day, or several days, of repeats of the process.
In January, it took 15 rounds and some private negotiation before Kevin McCarthy was seated, and some of the later rounds produced such cinematic masterpieces as the apparently-angry confrontation between McCarthy and Matt Gaetz.
Jordan and his supporters remain confident, at least outwardly, that he, too, will eventually be confirmed, but the open question is how long the process may take, and whether any of the Republican defectors may choose to vote for Jeffries or sit out, potentially giving the Democratic candidate the seat instead.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.
