Jordan dropped from speaker nomination after three failed votes – LIVE

The division within the House Republican Conference goes far deeper than simply a battle between moderates and conservatives.

A Jordan-backer told Punchbowl News that many blame Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the first GOP nominee for speaker, for the chaos, adding that his reputation is “forever” destroyed with them.

Many supporters of Mr Jordan reportedly think that Mr Scalise has covertly been whipping up the opposition against Mr Jordan even as he publically votes for him on each ballot.

On Friday afternoon, Mr Jordan had been booted as the GOP nominee for speaker after an internal secret ballot.

Another day, another round of votes, another meeting in the House basement. And nothing is fixed.

This has been the perpetual state of the US House of Representatives this whole past week that began with Rep Jim Jordan, the man once called a “legislative terrorist,” seeming almost destined to take the speakership, culminating in the triumph of radical Republicans and ending in dramatic fashion on Friday afternoon. During a secret ballot, Republicans rejected Mr Jordan as the party’s nominee for speaker.

This had come after Mr Jordan had lost a third ballot to become speaker, with three Republicans from districts that voted for President Joe Biden adding to the tally against him.

Shortly thereafter, the House GOP conference once again met in a conference room in the lower corridors of the Capitol as two aides pushed a cart of bags from District Taco, a serviceable but by no means great Mexican spot on the Hill.

This cycle has repeated itself too many times over since Republicans took the House majority in January. But hardly anything ever comes of these meetings except for more bickering within the conference. For the longest time, the hard-right faction refused whatever Republican leadership was begging them to take.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was asked on Friday following the third failed ballot for Rep Jim Jordan on Friday if the House GOP is broken.

“We’re in a very bad place right now, yes,” he said.

By Friday afternoon, Mr Jordan had been booted as the GOP nominee for speaker after an internal secret ballot.

A source within the GOP told Axios on Friday that the group around Rep Jim Jordan “doesn’t f****** understand numbers” and that some are now concerned that as some members are leaving Washington, DC, it could possibly lead to Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries being elected speaker.

Mr Jordan was later booted as the GOP speaker nominee in an internal secret ballot.

Acting Speaker Rep Patrick McHenry said on Friday afternoon said Republicans will return on Monday for a candidate forum following the removal of Rep Jim Jordan.

The “election process” will then begin on Tuesday morning, he added.

“The reason why I made that decision is, we need space and time for candidates to talk to other members,” he told the press.

A large and growing number of Republicans were starting to make calls to sound out fellow members about who they might support.

Like several other Republicans, Rep Austin Scott of Georgia tried to blame the Democrats after the removal of Rep Jim Jordan as the nominee for speaker.

“How does it make the Republican party look?” CNN’s Manu Raju asked Mr Scott.

“I think it makes Congress as a whole look very bad… The Democrats are not innocent in this. They’re not,” Mr Scott claimed.

The Democratic House Minority Whip, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, slammed Rep Jim Jordan as she nominated Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ahead of the third speakership ballot on Friday.

“He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare … it was raised on the other side of the aisle just this week as a selling point to make him speaker,” Ms Clark said.

“MAGA extremism is designed to divide and it has broken the Republican Party. Their nominee’s vision is a direct attack on the freedom and the rights of the American people. And he’s got the record to prove it,” she said of Mr Jordan.

“The Republican nominee has voted against health care for children, for veterans, even for 9/11 survivors,” she added.

“Over his 16 years in the House, the Republican nominee has never supported a Farm Bill. What does that mean? It means he has turned his back on farmers, on rural communities, and the 11 million children who go to bed hungry in this country,” Ms Clark said.

“The Republican nominee wants a national abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of a mother. We want to make our own healthcare decisions in consultation with our families,” she said.

Ms Clark added that Mr Jordan “wanted to overturn the 2020 election,” and called him “a true threat to our democracy and our Constitution”.

By Friday afternoon, Mr Jordan had been booted as the GOP nominee for speaker after an internal secret ballot.

Rep Chip Roy of Texas attempted to pivot from the GOP dysfunction to blaming Democrats for lacking border security on Friday afternoon following the ouster of Rep Jim Jordan as the nominee for speaker.

Acknowledging his defeat on Friday afternoon, Rep Jim Jordan said he “got to know members in our conference that I didn’t really know that well over the last three weeks”.