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WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said on Friday that he is re-entering the race for speaker, just a day after the GOP’s nominee, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, dropped his bid for the top job after failing to lock up enough support.
Jordan, a Donald Trump loyalist who has burnished a reputation on the Hill as a conservative bomb-thrower, could still meet the same fate as Scalise. Because of the party’s razor-thin majority, just five GOP detractors can block Jordan in a House floor vote, and a handful of moderate Republicans have already said they won’t vote for Jordan.
They include Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri, Austin Scott of Georgia, and Don Bacon of Nebraska. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a powerful appropriator, called Jordan “straightforward” but expressed concerns about his ability to lead a very narrow majority, pointing to the fact that he could not flip votes in favor of Scalise after Jordan endorsed his one-time opponent.
“If you can’t get your closest friends, your closest supporters on an election issue to follow you … it begs the question of can you do anything and can you get anybody to follow you on really difficult issues,” Diaz-Balart said Friday.
House Republicans will meet at 1 p.m. for a candidate forum, to hear from Jordan or any other lawmaker who may run.
Many Republicans are now looking to Jordan, of Ohio, because he was the only challenger to Scalise, of Louisiana, losing just two days ago in a narrow, internal 113-99 vote.
Supporters point to his conservative credentials — he chaired both the Republican Study Committee and far-right House Freedom Caucus — and also that he has aligned himself with the GOP leadership team more in recent years.
“We must unite behind one leader with the integrity, the ability and the vision to lead us. I believe that Jim Jordan is that leader and I ask my colleagues to join me now,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., the House GOP’s campaigns chief this cycle, said in a statement Friday.
Following Scalise’s decision to drop out, House Republicans regrouped and huddled behind closed doors Friday, facing deep intraparty divisions and no apparent path to 217 votes, the magic number needed on the House floor to elect a new speaker.
The chain of events began with Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as speaker last week and led to Scalise’s exit Thursday, all intensifying the bad blood within the party, which could make Republicans’ task even harder. Some GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, have pledged to vote only for McCarthy on the House floor.
“We had a process and we had a nominee and people stabbed him in the back,” said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas. “So that’s not something to be proud of.”
Julie Tsirkin and Ryan Nobles contributed.
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