Kevin McCarthy confident Jim Jordan will become speaker: “He’ll get there”

Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio was chosen Friday as the new nominee for House speaker following a secret ballot, and the most recent speaker voiced his confidence in Jordan’s chances of gaining the position.

Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who served as House speaker from January until October 3, said he believes Jordan will eventually receive enough votes to become the new speaker.

McCarthy was voted out of the speakership after Republican Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida spearheaded an effort to remove him. On Wednesday, Republican Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana beat out Jordan in a closed-door ballot among House Republicans to become the nominee, but he withdrew from consideration the following day.

CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju spoke with McCarthy in a hallway of the U.S. Capitol after Jordan’s nomination was announced and asked if the Ohio representative can continue to run for speaker after only receiving 152 votes on the nominating ballot. (To secure the speaker position, a candidate is required to receive at least 217 votes among the House in its entirety.)

“Yeah, but he’ll get there. I don’t see a problem with him not getting there,” McCarthy said of Jordan.

McCarthy continued by saying he feels Jordan will be able to win over more House members after they take a break to be with their families.

Raju followed up by asking how McCarthy can be so confident about Jordan’s chances when he needs to convince more than 50 people to vote for him.

“I’ve been through this many times,” the California congressman said before listing other speakers who eventually reached the position after being behind in votes when nominated.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for McCarthy and Jordan via email for comment on Friday night.

Jordan already has the support of some prominent Republicans, including Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voiced her preference for Jordan even after Scalise’s nomination.

Former President Donald Trump also endorsed Jordan last week.

“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on October 6. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

While Jordan works to win over members of his own party in the House, he seemingly won’t be able to count on bipartisanship support from Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“House Republicans have just elected a speaker nominee who in 16 years in Congress hasn’t passed a single bill, because his focus has not been on the American people, his focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories and division,” Jeffries said to reporters on Friday.