After a second round of voting, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio again failed to secure the 217 votes he would need to be elected speaker, but one analyst told Newsweek he still expects Jordan to bounce back.
On Tuesday, during the first round of voting, Jordan garnered only 200 votes—17 shy of the required 217 to win the gavel—after 20 members of his own party refused to back him. Jordan has been seeking to become the next speaker since Representative Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership in a historic 216-210 vote on October 3 after Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida spearheaded an effort to remove him. However in order to win the position, Jordan can only afford to lose only four GOP votes if all members are present as he needs a majority vote from the full chamber, including Democrats.
As voting continues on Wednesday, the Republican party has maintained their stance against Jordan as he has lost 22 Republicans—more than the 20 he lost yesterday, according to Manu Raju, Chief Congressional Correspondent at CNN.
“Jim Jordan has lost 22 Republicans—more than the 20 he lost yesterday. He lost three more Rs and picked up one. He could only afford to lose four Republicans,” Raju wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
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In addition, Representatives Vern Buchanan of Florida, Drew Ferguson of Georgia, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa supported Jordan in the first round but declined to do so in the second round.
The opposition from the Republican party comes after it was reported some of Jordan’s allies had been trying to intimidate GOP lawmakers who aren’t backing the Ohio congressman’s bid for speaker.
This led Republican Representative Byron Donalds to admit on Tuesday, amid voting, that the “pressure campaign” waged by some in the GOP has “backfired.”
“I believe it was, I talked to a couple of members where they felt that was just not what they needed. I don’t think that’s what we should be doing right now…I think some of the pressure campaigns have backfired, they have not worked,” Donalds said in an interview with Fox News.
In addition to the Republicans who have not backed Jordan, the congressman’s own ally Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania warned that it will not be easy for Jordan to secure the votes citing he will likely have fewer votes the second time around.
“Just so there’s no surprises: Jordan will likely have FEWER votes today than yesterday—as I expected. This is the fight—which Jim Jordan represents—to end the status quo, and it ain’t easy…Stay strong and keep praying,” Perry wrote on X.
Political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek that while it may be a setback for the congressman and for the Republican party, it is unclear how the opposition from his own party will impact his morale.
“Jordan’s failure to become Speaker is a setback for him and for the Republican Party. It’s too early to say how this will impact his morale and his ability to rally the holdouts within his own party. However, it’s clear that Jordan is a resilient politician, and he’s likely to bounce back from this setback,” Agranoff said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.