Jim Jordan issues dire warning as he begs Republicans to unite after first ballot flops
House Republicans remain in disarray after the first attempt to have the Ohio Rep. elected as the new Speaker of the House failed on Tuesday.
Speaker McCarthy speaks about debt limit negotiations
Rep. Jim Jordan issued a dire warning to colleagues in the Republican Party as he appealed for unity to end the two-week leadership crisis caused by the ousting of Kevin McCarthy.
Jordan fell well short of the 217 minimum votes he required to secure control of the House of Representatives.
Within minutes of the gavel escaping his grasp in the first round of votes, the Ohio Rep. took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to warn colleagues of the threats the ongoing crisis poses.
Jordan wrote: "We must stop attacking each other and come together. There’s too much at stake.
"Let’s get back to working on the crisis at the southern border, inflation, and helping Israel.”
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The Trump-backed Republican had hoped the public vote would oust the handful of colleagues opposing his candidacy in a bid to put them under the spotlight and cajole them into voting for him.
But the strategy backfired as 20 House Republicans cast a vote for someone else in the first round.
Until a new Speaker is selected, the House is effectively gridlocked, a challenging scenario as the government faces running out of funds - again - on November 18.
Support for Ukraine, as well as support for Israel following the eruption of a new military conflict with Hamas, is also up in the air.
Jordan is the second big-name Republican to throw his hat into the ring since McCarthy was forced to step down.
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Steve Scalise was initially believed to have the backing of a majority of House Republicans but he pulled out of the race last week.
That didn't stop seven colleagues from casting their votes in his favor, with six opting for former speaker McCarthy, who is not currently in the running.
While Jordan's camp knew a win on the first ballot was unlikely, the widespread hope was the opposition could be kept in single digits.
But the Judiciary Committee chair seemingly failed to win over Scalise and McCarthy loyalists with his proposed plan - leaving him on an uphill path to change their stance on his candidacy.
The tally, with 200 Republicans voting for Jordan and 212 for the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, left no candidate with a clear majority, as the 20 Republicans voted for someone else.
With Republicans in majority control 221-212, Jordan must pick up most of his GOP foes to win.
Jeffries swiftly intervened, declaring it was time for Republicans to partner with Democrats to reopen the House — in what would be an extraordinary if not unprecedented moment in congressional history.
Bipartisan groups of lawmakers have been floating ways to operate the House by giving greater power to the interim speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) or another temporary speaker.
The House had never ousted its speaker before McCarthy, and the lawmakers are in rarely tested terrain.
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