Jim Jordan failed on Friday on a third ballot for the House speaker’s gavel, rejected by even more Republicans from the conservative mainstream who warned the hard-edged ally of Donald Trump that no threats or promises could win their support.
The Republicans have no realistic or workable plan to unite its fractured majority, elect a new speaker and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since hard-liners ousted Kevin McCarthy at the start of the month.
In all, Jordan lost 25 Republican colleagues, leaving him far from the majority needed.
Ahead of the vote, Jordan showed no signs of stepping aside, insisting at a Capitol press conference: “The American people are hungry for change.”
Drawing on his Ohio roots, Jordan, who is popular with the GOP’s right-flank activist base of voters, positioned his long-shot campaign alongside the history of American innovators including the Wright brothers, urging his colleagues to elect him to the speakership.
McCarthy himself rose in the chamber to nominate Jordan, portraying him as a skilled legislator who reached for compromise. That drew scoffs of laughter from the Democratic side of the aisle.
McCarthy said of Jordan, “He is straightforward, honest and reliable.”
