Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) departed a messy, three-hour closed-door House Republican Conference meeting on Thursday gripping a note with numerous scribblings on it, one which could be clearly read in photos:
“What is the real reason?” At least one picture of the scene was snapped by Reuters photojournalist Leah Millis.
Jim Jordan was voted out of the race for speaker of the House on Friday after failing to receive the necessary votes on three separate ballots.
Jordan lost in a secret ballot vote 86-112. GOP House members will now go home for the weekend. Any new speaker candidates have until 12 p.m. ET to declare on Sunday. There will then be a candidate forum on Monday.
Jordan failed to receive enough votes Friday morning on the House floor. After the third round of votes, Jordan was shy of the necessary 214 to win the speakership. The final quorum call put the House attendance at 427, meaning 214 remains the majority threshold unless members voted “present” during the roll call vote for speaker.
Rep. Jim Jordan says he told his colleagues that he wants to work as hard as he can to help elect a new speaker and get the chamber back to work.
Jordan was asked what he told the GOP conference, in which he was removed as speaker nominee after a third failed vote to elect him speaker earlier today.
“I thanked everyone. I said, look, I think we need to call this question. Do you want me to remain as your speaker designee and keep fighting? I will definitely do that. That’s my attitude. I think that’s that’s an American attitude. But I felt we had to know.”
“So I called for the question, asked for unanimous consent, got the results. And I thanked every one of our of our colleagues and said, I will work as hard as I can to help help all of you, help our help our team, help us get a new speaker and go, go do the work that the American people want us to do. And that’s what I’m gonna do,” he said.
Twenty-five Republicans voted against Jordan on the third ballot.
It is unclear what the next steps will be for the conference. Some lawmakers had backed the idea of empowering Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla, the head of the Republican Study Committee, said he will be running for speaker.
Typical Republicans, everyone claiming individual victories as we loose the war.