Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tried for the third time to get elected speaker of the House and failed. With each successive vote, Jordan has lost support. From losing 20 Republicans to losing 22, and finally, on Friday, losing 25 members, Jordan suggested the GOP caucus should hold another vote on their choice for speaker.
After meeting behind closed doors, Republicans gave Jordan what amounted to a vote of “no confidence” for the speakership. And just like that, the GOP found itself exactly where it was after ditching Kevin McCarthy as speaker 17 days ago.
Well, not exactly where they started. In fact, they’re in a gigantic hole with no clear path to elect someone — anyone — speaker. So now, after adjourning, Republicans will have the weekend to think about their next move.
The tentative plan now is to hold a cattle call “candidate’s forum” on Monday, where at least a half dozen members could vie for the honor (?) of being designated party candidate for speaker.
After the conference threw him under the bus, Jordan said, “We need to come together and figure out who our speaker is going to be, and I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people.”
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, announced his own candidacy for speaker after the vote to oust Jordan as a candidate.
“Certainly, you have to work hard,” Hern, who voted for Jordan on all three ballots, said. “It’s gonna require 217 and when you look at what they’ve done, you always learn from the previous candidates what worked and what didn’t work. And again, as I said, the first week when Speaker McCarthy was moved aside, that, you know, we needed to work for unity, and unity was only having two candidates in a race.”
“I think our delegation needs to have somebody who wants to work to unite them, brings a different perspective, and that will be what I bring.”
Hern is industrious enough but hasn’t demonstrated that he has the skill set necessary to wrangle the GOP caucus to come together in this crisis. That’s why the speaker usually comes from the leadership — people who are used to whipping votes, cajoling, wheedling, and threatening when necessary. Hern may indeed have those abilities, but he has yet to demonstrate them.
Meanwhile, the Democrats made a laughable effort to get moderate Republicans to defect and elect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats’ minority leader, as speaker.
“End the attachment to the extremist Jim Jordan and join with Democrats in finding a bipartisan path forward,” Jeffries told reporters. “We recognize that Jim Jordan is a clear and present danger to the American people. And we are going to be here for as long as it takes to end this national nightmare.”
Earlier, a plan to empower the interim speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry, with additional powers so that at least some House business like aid to Israel could take place, fell through. It became clear that there weren’t going to be nearly enough Republicans backing the plan to make it work.
Quote of the day goes to Ron DeSantis, on the campaign trail in South Carolina: “Look, I think it’s unfortunate that these guys can’t get their act together. It’s like the gang that can’t shoot straight. They’ve been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It’s not inspiring confidence. There’s a lot of theater.”
That’s the bottom line. Any of these Republicans — Jordan, Scalise, or Hern — would be fine choices. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference among them ideologically, and at this point, who cares about their leadership style?
Get it done or kiss your majority goodbye.
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