House GOP nominates Jordan for Speaker: recap

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) is throwing his support behind House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker after the Ohio Republican defeated him in an internal nominating contest.

“I believe in the process, we’ve had the vote, Jim Jordan won the vote, the party should unite behind the person who wins the vote, and we need a Speaker of the House,” Scott told reporters following the secret vote.

He said the first thing he did when Jordan clinched the nomination “was to endorse him for Speaker of the House.”

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) on Friday said she was taking back her support of Jordan, “for now.”

“Today, I voted to support Jim Jordan for speaker. He is a great American with strong conservative values, but I am not sure if he truly is the independent thinker and visionary leader we need to deliver for the American people,” she said in a statement. “After witnessing all of the behind-the-scenes politics, backstabbing, undermining, top-down attitude and statements made by former Speaker McCarthy and his allies in conference today, I will have to assess on Monday if Jim is the right person who will be held accountable to the same standard as Kevin was, or just another puppet for the swamp with a better bio.”

Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said he will be a no on Jordan’s Speakership on the House floor — and warned that the Ohio Republican has a tough road ahead to build support.

“I think it’s a very difficult math equation for him to overcome,” Díaz-Balart said.

Díaz-Balart had been whipping votes for House Majority Leader Stave Scalise (R-La.) before he withdrew from the Speaker race on Thursday, just one day after he narrowly won the GOP nomination over Jordan.

Díaz-Balart pointed to Jordan’s hardline conservative allies withholding support for Scalise despite Jordan’s public endorsement.

“If you can’t get your own people to follow you, on a very simple thing like this, then I think you have an issue of leadership,” he said.

— Emily Brooks

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) said finding a short-term solution to get legislation passed isn’t “about a win” for the Democrats.

“I’m dead serious when I say this, like this isn’t really about a win. This place is not functioning,” she told reporters late Friday.

Spanberger referenced the proposal put forth by Democratic members of the Problem Solvers Caucus who suggested extending Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry’s term by small increments to get legislation through.

“But I think the bottom line is, let’s have a conversation,” she said. “Do we want to just, you know, get through November and funding of the government and, in the interim, also addressing the needs for the need for aid to Israel and Ukraine?”

— Aris Folley

In a letter addressed to House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) that was obtained by The Hill, the group of Democrats said they would support temporarily expanding his authority, which would allow the chamber to take up urgent bills including government funding and foreign aid.

“In light of our nation’s pressing issues, a looming government shutdown, and the attacks on our key ally, Israel, we strongly support an immediate vote to expand the Speaker Pro Tempore’s authorities to all for the consideration of a legislative agenda limited to the most pressing issues,” the letter said.

Read the full story here.

— Lauren Irwin

House Republicans are leaving for the weekend with a nominee but no Speaker.

They will return for a conference meeting Monday.

The vote on whether Republicans would support Jordan on the floor came in at 152-55.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) will speak to the media at 5 p.m. on the Capitol steps.

He’ll be joined by Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) and other members of the House Democratic Caucus.

House Republicans are now holding a second vote, asking members if they will support Jordan on the House floor, in an attempt to see how much support he would have on the floor as the nominee.

House Republicans nominated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker on Friday, the conference’s second attempt to find a candidate who can win the gavel on the House floor, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) confirmed on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He will need 217 votes on the floor to become Speaker.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) told reporters he “cannot envision going to the floor this afternoon because I think it would be very risky.”

Womack cited attendance and a concern that the GOP’s nominee would not have 217 votes.

— Mychael Schnell

House Republicans are voting now on their nominee for Speaker, according to a lawmaker.

— Mychael Schnell

Members are flowing out of the conference meeting. They’re voting in 15 minutes.

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said the candidate forum is wrapping up.

“Both candidates did a really good job,” he said.

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said he is not supporting Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) if he wins the nomination, and predicted that he would not be able to win enough support to succeed on the House floor — which would spur a new candidate rush.

“Then they’re going to have four or five other members of Congress that are really, I think, pretty strong members who will get in the race,” Buchanan said.

He declined to say who those candidates would be, but said that those potential candidates have already been talking to him about future bids if Jordan fails.

Buchanan also said that he did not think Jordan — who had publicly said he offered to give a nominating speech for House Majority Whip Stece Scalise (R-La.) on the floor — had not given him enough of a wholehearted endorsement after Scalise won the nomination on Wednesday.

“I think Jim’s a good person. I think just the way everything played out yesterday wasn’t appropriate, and we’re all friends and should be friends. And he [Jordan] could have been much more passionate about his endorsement [of Scalise],” Buchanan said. “I think that would have built a lot more momentum. He had momentum, but it was a difference.”

Scalise withdrew from the race on Thursday when it was clear he would not get enough support to win on the House floor.

“Steve got a raw deal,” Buchanan said.

Other members earlier in the week expressed disappointment that Jordan did not immediately endorse Scalise on Wednesday after the nomination election, and that his endorsement came later.

— Emily Brooks

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he would vote for Jordan for Speaker.

Asked if Jordan has the votes to go to the House floor, McCarthy responded, “I think he’s got the votes but we’ll see.”

— Mychael Schnell

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) doubled down Friday on her criticism of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), saying if he becomes Speaker, Republicans will lose control of the House in the next election.

“If Rs nominate Jordan to be Speaker, they will be abandoning the Constitution. They’ll lose the House majority and they’ll deserve to,” Cheney wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Cheney reiterated her concern about Jordan’s close relationship with former President Trump and about his involvement in the efforts to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. 

“Jim Jordan was involved in Trump’s conspiracy to steal the election and seize power,” she wrote. “He urged that Pence refuse to count lawful electoral votes.”

READ MORE HERE.

— Sarah Fortinsky

“I don’t necessarily want to be the Speaker of the House,” Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said. “I want a House that functions correctly, but the House is not functioning correctly right now.”

Asked if he was running for symbolic reasons, he responded “no,” but acknowledged, “I don’t know if anyone can get to 217 in our conference.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, walking into the GOP meeting and asked if he can get to 217 votes, said “I think so.”

He also said he thinks Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is working on getting lawmakers back in town.

— Emily Brooks

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) will nominate Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) for Speaker, Scott told reporters.

Republican Reps. Dusty Johnson (S.D.), Kevin Hern (Okla.) and Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.) will nominate Jim Jordan at today’s Speaker candidate forum, per a source familiar.

It’s the second candidate forum this week. This time, Jordan is up against Austin Scott.

— Mychael Schnell

“We’ll see what his pitch is,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said when asked about the Speakership candidacy of Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.).

Davidson, who is backing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said he isn’t sure how the situation will play out.

“I don’t know how many people will change their minds, and I assume a large block of people that work for Steve [Scalise] will probably start out with Austin. Maybe some of them were like, I’m for Steve, but I also want to be for Jim, and we’ll see. I don’t know at this point, do we?”

— Aris Folley

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), leaving the GOP’s closed-door meeting, said he believes he is the best person for the Speaker post.

“I think I can unite the conference; I think I can go tell the country what we’re doing and why it matters to them, and we’ll talk about that.”

He told reporters he believes he has “broad support across the conference.”

“I think it’s important that the house get open and operating as soon as possible,” he added.

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) has filed to run against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker.

“We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

House Republicans are set to meet for a candidate forum at 1 p.m. It’s unclear if they’ll vote on the nomination today.

— Mychael Schnell

Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) shot down discussion of giving him more power in this morning’s conference meeting.

According to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and another GOP member, McHenry said that’s not what lawmakers were gathered for and would not entertain motions on it.

Frustrated House Republicans have in recent days begun exploring whether there is a way to empower McHenry to bring up legislation.

READ MORE ABOUT THOSE EFFORTS HERE.

— Emily Brooks

“There are too many people who don’t accept the reality we live within, which is we are a fractured group that need to find a way to 217,” Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said.

“Pretending like that isn’t real is like pretending we don’t actually live on the same planet.”

— Emily Brooks

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) proposed — and then withdrew — an amendment during Friday’s conference meeting that would have made Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) the House GOP’s Speaker nominee, according to Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio.).

After McClintock proposed his amendment, McCarthy stood up in the meeting and said the efforts were “unhelpful.”

“Kevin, you know, stepped up and said you know, I love my friend Tom and appreciate the sentiment behind his amendment, but this is not helpful,” Davidson told reporters following the meeting.

“He’s like this is not gonna be a path to heal,” Davidson added.

McClintock then withdrew the amendment, according to Davidson.

“Tom said ‘I’m disappointed’ but … I still think it’s the only way forward in his views and then he said, ‘you know but, with respect to the Speaker emeritus I withdraw my amendment,’” Davidson told reporters.

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters after the GOP’s morning meeting that he’s backing Rep. Jim Jordan in the Speaker’s race, saying he “could do an excellent” job.

“We’ve got to get this back on track. We gotta solve this problem. I think we’re on path now to do it.”

McCarthy added that he thinks Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (N.C.) should have power to run the House as Speaker now “to keep running Congress.”

— Aris Folley

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said he’s supporting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

McCarthy hasn’t declared himself as a candidate, but he’s left the door open.

“We’re gonna have to draft him,” Rogers said.

— Aris Folley

Republicans will gather at 1 p.m. for a candidate forum, but it’s not clear yet whether there will be a nominating vote today.

Candidates must file to run by about noon.

— Emily Brooks