Congressman Jim Jordan has lost the first round of voting for Speaker of the House.
Jordan was nominated by the House Republican Caucus and needed all but four Republican votes if all Democrats uniformly voted against him.
Twenty Republicans ended up voting against him on Tuesday. Per my count it's 20 Republicans against Jordan:
-Bacon
-Chavez-DeRemer
-D’Esposito
-Diaz-Balart
-Ellzey
-Garbarino
-Gimenez
-Tony Gonzalez
-Kay Granger
-Mike Kelly
-Jen Kiggans
-LaLota
-Lawler
-Rutherford
-Simpson
-Womack
-Buck
-James
-LaMalfa
-Spartz
— Haley Byrd Wilt 🌻 (@byrdinator) October 17, 2023
Rep. Ken Buck said he would not vote for Jordan due to his position on the protest at the Capitol on January 6.
“If he’s gonna lead this conference during a presidential election cycle, particularly a presidential election year with primaries and caucuses around the country, he’s gonna have to be strong and say Donald Trump didn’t win the election,” Buck said on Monday night while speaking to a group of reporters.
Thee vote ended up being 200 for Jordan, 212 for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Six of the holdouts voted for McCarthy and seven for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
Scalise had withdrawn his name after realizing he would not be able to obtain the necessary votes.
According to a report from The Hill, "Seven voted for other candidates, including former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)."
A second vote will now take place.
In January, it took 15 rounds of voting over the span of four days before McCarthy eventually won.
