Republican Jim Jordan is losing GOP support in his second attempt to be US speaker Wednesday, a key ally conceded, imperiling his candidacy.
(Bloomberg) — Republican Jim Jordan is losing GOP support in his second attempt to be US speaker Wednesday, a key ally conceded, imperiling his candidacy.
“Just so there’s no surprises: Jordan will likely have FEWER votes today than yesterday — as I expected,” Jordan ally Scott Perry said on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “This is the fight – which Jim Jordan represents – to end the status quo, and it ain’t easy.”
Perry is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republicans that Jordan helped found.
The House is scheduled to begin a roll call vote on speaker at 11 a.m. Wednesday, the second vote since Republicans nominated Jordan for speaker.
Just before the vote, Jordan stressed he received support from 90 percent of Republicans on the the first ballot.
Other lawmakers on Wednesday acknowledged that Jordan, who lost 20 Republican votes in an initial ballot on Tuesday, would again come up short.
“This candidate does not and will not be able to get the Republican votes to become speaker,” Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, who has opposed Jordan’s candidacy, said. “So then now I think all of us have to get together and figure out what’s next.”
Jordan, a conserative known for his bombastic personality and insurgent tactics, lost far more Republican votes on the first ballot than the eight or 10 some GOP lawmakers projected. Among his opponents are a group of traditional Republicans who sit on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
The House has been paralyzed since the Oct. 3 ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and unable to address an impending government shutdown and an escalating war in the Middle East.
(Updates with Jordan in fifth paragraph)
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