During a secret ballot on Friday, House Republicans voted to remove Jim Jordan as the nominee for speaker of the House of Representatives.
Republicans held the closed-door vote on Friday afternoon after Jordan failed to win enough support in a third vote, Fox News reported. According to PunchBowl’s Jake Sherman, Jordan “lost handily” in the 122-86 vote.
Shortly afterward, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma announced that he is seeking the leadership role.
Rep. Jack Bergman of Michigan has also expressed openness to the role, according to Axios. The congressman tweeted Friday afternoon: “House Republicans shouldn’t be leaving town for the weekend. We need to lock ourselves in a room and elect the 56th Speaker of the House.”
Jordan obtained 194 votes from Republicans on Friday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had 210 votes from Democrats, and 25 Republicans opted to vote for candidates other than Jordan.
Those Republicans who did not vote for Jordan were Don Bacon of Nebraska, Vern Buchanan of Florida, Ken Buck of Colorado, Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, Anthony D’Esposito of New York, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Jake Ellzey of Texas, Drew Ferguson of Georgia, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Tony Gonzales of Texas, Kay Granger of Texas, John James of Michigan, Tom Kean of New Jersey, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Jen Kiggans of Virginia, Nick Lakota of New York, Mike Lawler of New York, Marionette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Marc Molinaro of New York, John Rutherford of Florida, Mike Simpson of Idaho, Pete Stauber of Minnesota, and Steve Womack of Arkansas.
During Friday’s vote, three new Republicans who had supported Jordan in previous votes flipped against him: Fitzpatrick, Kean, and Molinaro.
Jordan had won 199 votes from Republicans on Wednesday and 200 votes from Republicans on Tuesday but received 194 votes on Friday.
Before the vote, McCarthy nominated Jordan for House speaker, praising him as a leader, a listener, and a fighter.
“Jim is the right person to take that seat behind me, to be our next speaker of the House,” McCarthy told Congress.
Shortly after the third vote, the eight Republican members who voted to oust McCarthy offered to accept censure or removal from the Republican conference in exchange for Republicans electing Jordan as speaker of the House of Representatives.
Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Ken Buck of Colorado, Bob Good of Virginia, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Eli Crane of Arizona, and Matt Rosendale of Montana signed the “Dear Colleague” letter sent Friday to their Republican peers acknowledging the “rancor,” “hurt feelings,” and “acrimony” that their decision to vote against McCarthy has caused.
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