Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan - Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Conservative Republican Jim Jordan‘s quest to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives ended on Friday as his fellow Republicans revoked their support following a third, failed vote on the House floor, lawmakers said.
The secret ballot vote means the chamber will be leaderless and unable to respond to President Joe Biden’s request for aid to Ukraine and Israel until next week at the earliest.
Opposition to Jordan’s candidacy from within his party grew over the week. Some 25 Republican lawmakers voted against him in a third round of balloting on the House floor on Friday, more than the 22 who had opposed him in the second round on Wednesday. Jordan received 194 votes, well short of the 214 he needed to claim the speaker’s gavel.
Republicans then voted to revoke Jordan’s nomination in a closed-door meeting.
Now ending its third work week without a leader, the House cannot act on a $106 billion national-security package unveiled by Biden on Friday that would bolster U.S. border security and send billions to Israel and Ukraine.
“Jim is a good man. But you know, when the votes aren’t there, the votes aren’t there,” said Republican Representative Greg Murphy, a Jordan supporter.
The narrow Republican majority has failed to unite behind Jordan or any other candidate to replace Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by a handful of party members on Oct. 3. They also have been unable to agree on a fallback plan that would let the chamber take up legislation.
Republicans control the chamber by a narrow 221-212 majority, though some members were absent from Friday’s voting.
Jordan’s vote total was less than McCarthy netted in 15 grueling rounds of voting in January.
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