WASHINGTON — The House plans to return for a second round of balloting for House speaker on Wednesday morning as Jim Jordan fights to win over his many holdouts for the job to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy.
Jordan lost 20 Republican votes Tuesday and pleaded afterward to his colleagues that they “must stop attacking each other and come together.”
What to know
Jim Jordan’s rapid rise has been cheered by Trump and the far right
How the vote for a new speaker works
Scalise ends bid to become speaker as holdouts refuse to back him
McCarthy was an early architect of the GOP majority that became his downfall
Two unlikely sources float plan for interim deal
Bipartisan groups of lawmakers have been floating ways to operate the House by giving greater power to the interim speaker, Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, or another temporary speaker. The House had never ousted its speaker before Kevin McCarthy, and the lawmakers are in rarely tested terrain.
Two former Republican House speakers, Newt Gingrich and John Boehner, have come out in support of the idea.
Gingrich said that while he likes Jordan, he has “no faith” the nominee can get much beyond the 200 votes he won in the first vote.
“We can’t sit around and suck our thumbs and hope the world will wait until the House Republicans get their act together,” Gingrich told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on his show.
Boehner reposted Gingrich’s views on social media, adding, “I agree.”
The two men have deep experience with the subject. Both were chased to early retirement by threats of ouster from right-flank insurgents like those who toppled McCarthy.
