Jordan short on GOP votes for Speaker
House Republicans will try again next week
Also in today’s special edition of ‘Regular Order’ for October 14, 2023:
From unknown to 81 votes in three hours flat.
Democrats call for House governing coalition.
For once, Trump does not double down.
SPEAKER. There is still no Speaker of the House. Republicans went home for the weekend no closer to electing a Speaker, even as they nominated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for that post. But GOP leaders decided to hold off on further action after 55 Republicans said they would *not* vote for Jordan on the House floor - which could signal that Jordan has no path to 217 votes.
JORDAN. Friday was supposed to be a day to shine for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). With Majority Leader Steve Scalise out of the race for Speaker, Jordan had no real challenger inside the GOP as House Republicans met behind closed doors. “He has what it takes to go into a room with Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden and negotiate conservative wins,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).
PLOT TWIST. But there was a surprise waiting for Jordan and his backers. Just before a 12 noon deadline, Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) - a little-known deep South conservative fed up with the Freedom Caucus - suddenly announced he would run against Jordan. And the results were brutal for Jordan.
GEORGIA. Three hours after Scott made it into a two man race, 81 Republicans voted for the Georgia Republican, whom most Capitol Hill reporters couldn't pick out of a single defendant police lineup. It represented a significant anti-Jordan vote, and completely undercut Jordan’s claim that he could unite the GOP.
FIFTY FIVE. Republicans then voted on whether GOP lawmakers would back Jordan on the House floor - where you need 217 votes to win. That tally was 152-55, again signaling strong opposition to Jordan becoming Speaker.
DOWN GOES JORDAN. Theoretically, could Jordan still win? Sure. And theoretically, I could suddenly start playing scratch golf next week. While Jordan’s backers vowed to keep fighting for votes, the reality is that he will have a very difficult time getting a majority on the House floor.
BACKERS. "We've got 48 hours now," said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), as Jordan supporters put on a brave face about winning over his critics. "He's going to take the time over the weekend to work on those individuals," said Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). "It will take a lot of work," acknowledged Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL).
REALISM. As GOP lawmakers left their meeting, one Jordan supporter gave me the same type of answer, that he could still win on the House floor next week. I turned off my tape recorder, and asked again - can Jordan win? Without missing a beat, this member of Congress instantly said, "No."
WHIP COUNT. The idea of flipping 55-60 votes seemed daunting to many Republicans. “It is a big number,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL). But others said there would be pressure from GOP voters back home. “It is popular to vote for Jim Jordan with the base,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
WEEKEND. Some Jordan supporters thought it was a mistake to adjourn until Monday. “Personally, I think we should stay and finish this, but that's up to him,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). It’s still not clear when the House will take a vote for Speaker.
FLOOR. Jordan allies want votes on the House floor, because that would identify which Republicans are opposing him. Then, Jordan supporters - like Donald Trump - could bring pressure to bear on those individual Republicans. That might work with 10-20 rebels. But with nearly 60? Stay tuned.
AUSTIN. The biggest Capitol Hill surprise on Friday was Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), who started the day as a fairly anonymous GOP lawmaker - and ended it by being the main player in sidetracking Jim Jordan’s bid for Speaker. "When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of doing this," Scott told reporters.
SCOTT. What Scott demonstrated more than anything else - by getting 81 Republicans to vote for him without any effort - was that Jim Jordan remains a very polarizing member of the House Republican conference. In other words, there’s a number of his GOP colleagues who can’t stand him.
SUPPORT. While Scott immediately called for the GOP to rally around Jordan, that didn’t happen. The damage had clearly been done. My Spidey Senses know that things like this don't happen in a vacuum. Anti-Jordan forces needed someone to run interference on Friday. And Scott fit the bill.
HALLWAYS. What did it look like this week? Here’s a few photos from just a few of the many scrums with lawmakers that I was part of.
TARGET PRACTICE. If Jordan cannot get enough votes on the House floor, this might be the best of all worlds for Democrats. A vote next week on Jordan would put swing seat Republicans on the record - and on the hot seat inside the GOP. It would allow Democrats to not only attack Jordan, but also go after those swing seat lawmakers who support him.
JEFFRIES. "House Republicans have just elected a Speaker nominee who in 16 years in this Congress hasn't passed a single bill," said Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. "His focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories."
STILL ON HOLD. "They are choosing chaos," said Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA). "Think about who they are rallying behind - Jim Jordan's own colleagues have called him a legislative terrorist."
MESSAGE. Gathered on the House steps late Friday afternoon, Democrats reminded everyone that they are ready to work with a handful of Republicans to create some kind of power-sharing arrangement. "They can join us in a bipartisan path forward," said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
BIPARTISAN. But while the idea of a 'unity Speaker' might sound great, Republicans aren’t there yet. If there is no Speaker by the end of next week - maybe then there will be more talk about a deal.
SCALISE. One reason that Jordan had so many Republicans vote against him was how he and his allies undercut Majority Leader Steve Scalise - who went from GOP nominee for Speaker to withdrawing from the race in 30 hours. "Just the way this has all played out in the last couple of days, I think it was wrong," said Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL).
MCCARTHY. Jordan has other problems, too. There are still Republicans who are vowing to only vote for ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy. "Our Congress is still without a Speaker of the House, because 8 Republicans joined all the Democrats to plunge our nation into chaos," said Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL).
SCHEDULE. Republicans will meet again on Monday at the Capitol, with a goal of possibly having Speaker votes on Tuesday. It may be that Jordan will press to hold votes on the House floor, in order to gauge his support. If he fails, then I would fully expect multiple GOP candidates to come forward.
NEXT WEEK. How does this end? It’s not crazy to think that no House Republican can get to 217 votes on the House floor. But there are a lot of bruised feelings that will make a final resolution difficult at best.
SPARTZ. The last month or so has brought us a number of highlights from Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who recently threatened to resign if ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn't change his ways. On Friday afternoon, Spartz voted for Jim Jordan and was excited about it. By Friday evening, Spartz was threatening to abandon Jordan next week.
STATEMENT. Denouncing what she said were instances of 'backstabbing' and other offensive statements inside the closed door GOP meeting, Spartz suggested that Jordan was, 'just another puppet for the swamp.' "I will have to assess on Monday if Jim is the right person," Spartz added.
BAD MOJO. The really dumb part about this intraparty battle for the GOP is that no matter who wins, not much will change for House Republicans as they duel with Democrats. And yet, there are GOP relationships which are being badly frayed by this fight.
SANTOS. Speaking of weird, I have no idea what was going on with Rep. George Santos (R-NY), who got in a shouting match with pro-Palestinian demonstrators near the GOP meeting. No, I don’t know why Santos was holding a small baby. I was too busy with real news to try to worry about what the hell was going on.
TRUMP. You don't see former President Donald Trump go into damage control too often. Usually, Trump's first instinct is to double down. But even he realized his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was creating a very negative response. "I Stand With Israel," Trump was posting by Friday afternoon.
PENCE. Trump's former Vice President was not amused. "I found the former President's comments to be reckless and irresponsible," Mike Pence said, hitting Trump for saying that the terror group Hezbollah was 'smart.' "They're evil," Pence countered. It wasn't just Pence raising his hand about Trump.
DESANTIS. "To go out and just take potshots at Netanyahu - at a time of war right now, I don't see where that's very productive," Gov. Ron DeSantis told voters in New Hampshire. DeSantis also said that he thinks Trump is 'still mad' that Netanyahu congratulated Biden on winning in 2020.
BIBI. What is Trump's beef with Netanyahu? Part of it is that Netanyahu did not dispute Biden’s 2020 win. But Trump’s bluster is also about a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in 2020. For whatever reasons, Netanyahu did not want to get involved - and that made Trump mad.
RAP SHEET. Friday the 13th was bad luck for a Pennsylvania man, who was arrested for assaulting police on Jan. 6. Video and photos show Troy Spackman using a chemical spray on officers outside the Capitol. He was known as "DrkSprayer" among online sleuths who tried to identify him.
MUSE OF HISTORY. October 14, 1837. The House on this date was looking for spending cuts. Rep. Churchill Cambreleng of New York took aim at the Smithsonian, proposing a $10,000 cut in the expenses of U.S. officials in London, who were working in the courts to claim the money left by James Smithson to the United States. The House rejected the move 74-65. The next year, the U.S. would get the money - half a million dollars in bags of gold, which was used to later establish the Smithsonian Institution.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back on Monday.
The Senate next has votes on Monday.
Check President Biden’s schedule.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
If you want to say ‘thanks’ - you can buy me a beer - or a cup of coffee.
“whom most Capitol Hill reporters couldn't pick out of a single defendant police lineup.” Brutal, but a great line. The Republicans are shredding their chances of winning anything with this behavior. Maybe a big fat L for many of them in the next cycle will be what it takes to open the eyes of some of these “public servants “.
“...theoretically I could start playing scratch golf next week.” You are brilliant and I so appreciate your deep understanding and history of congress. Thank you for constantly reminding us “this is not normal”