Friday morning, on the floor of the House, after a laudatory inspirational nomination speech by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20), Jim Jordan (R-OH-4) failed to garner 217 votes to win the role of Speaker of the House. Twenty-five fellow Republicans refused to support their colleagues and former leader's choice in Jordan for the post for a third time. (RELATED: Speaker's Race Bursts Wide Open With Shocking News)
After the frustration on the floor by Jordan supporters, the House GOP Conference met at 1 p.m. for about an hour, taking a secret ballot on asking whether or not Jordan should remain speaker-designate – in effect, essentially answering the question for Jordan on whether he should withdraw or not as the GOP candidate. It took about an hour after some discussion and secret ballot counting for a majority of the conference to agree Jordan should move aside.
This is a clear victory for the minority of so-called Republican moderates who fear any perceived alignment with those who support the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump will cause them election defeat. This action certainly plays into the hands of the Democrats and legacy media elites, citing the GOP as a party who cannot govern itself. Yet while the majority of the party supported Jordan, the same people who used similar arguments to shore up McCarthy's support allowed the RINO minority to hold sway and cast aside the exact new blood and leadership the Republicans desperately need.
The next steps are for members to first take a breath and a beat – by Sunday noon, any member may state their intention to be a candidate for speaker to the conference. Over the weekend, there are sure to be calls made and meetings held to gather and gauge support among the many potential candidates – no clear front-runner or consensus candidate has yet emerged. (RELATED: Dem Rep Pushing Republican VIP To Be Next Speaker?!)
Monday, the conference will once again convene behind closed doors for a candidate forum, allowing those individuals standing for speaker to present their case. A secret ballot will be held either Monday or, more likely, Tuesday morning during a conference meeting – probably a few rounds of ballots will take place as there will almost certainly be more than one candidate – and once a member secures the support of the Conference, they will become the speaker-designate and get ready for a floor vote.
It is feasible such a floor vote for the speaker's chair will take place Tuesday afternoon at the earliest or be pushed to Wednesday. Things remain fluid.
In a hallway interview, Congressman Jordan continued to show leadership by stressing the importance of the Conference “uniting” and to find a person to support for speaker. Given the deeply personal animosity between Republicans that has arisen over the past days, it remains to be seen.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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