Republican Jim Jordan reverses decision and seeks speaker position for third time
Illustrative photo (Photo: Getty Images)
Republican Jim Jordan, who previously refused to participate in the new vote for the position of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, has changed his mind and announced that he would be running for the position, according to New York Times.
Earlier, Jim Jordan, a Republican who previously refused to participate in the new vote for the position of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, changed his mind and announced that he would be running for the position.
He had previously announced to members of the House of Representatives during a closed-door meeting that he intended to skip the third vote for the speaker's position, which was scheduled for today, October 19, because he risked losing even more support.
Instead, he said he would support a plan proposed by some centrist Republicans and Democrats to expand the powers of Patrick McHenry, the temporary speaker, whose role is primarily to oversee the election of a permanent speaker, in order to resume the work of the House of Representatives until January 3.
Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio said he continued to negotiate with Republicans to see if anyone would switch to Jordan's side, but he believed that the party divisions were too deep. Some party members he spoke with were still deeply embittered by how some of Jordan's supporters ousted McCarthy and refused to support Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise when he was initially named the party's chosen successor to McCarthy.
Patrick McHenry currently holds the position of temporary speaker in accordance with a rule of the House of Representatives introduced after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Background
On October 3, the U.S. House of Representatives sent Speaker Kevin McCarthy into retirement. Eight Republicans and 208 Democrats voted for this decision.
Afterward, elections for a new speaker began in the lower house of Congress. Initially, the leading Republican candidate was Steve Scalise, but his candidacy was not even put to a vote in the House of Representatives because he had no chance.
Afterward, Republicans decided to make Jim Jordan the leading candidate. However, on October 17, he did not receive the necessary votes in the House of Representatives.
As an alternative, Republicans want to expand the powers of the temporary speaker, currently held by Patrick McHenry.
