Matt Gaetz Nominates Jim Jordan For Speaker As Kevin McCarthy Falls Short In The Second Round Of Voting
U.S. House Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) nominated U.S. House Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) to be House Speaker before the second round of voting. Jordan may not take it this round but it looks like McCarthy won’t have the votes to cross the finish line.
So in a third round of voting you may see the GOP agree on a compromise. Jordan has said he doesn’t want it and he even nominated U.S. House Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to become the next Speaker in a bid to persuade the holdouts.
McCarthy was unable to secure enough votes in the first vote as 19 GOP representatives voted against him and he has already lost 8 which emans he will lose again.
The first vote was 203 for McCarthy, 212 for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), 10 for Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), six for Rep Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one for Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), one for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and one for former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).
The second vote is going against Kevin. Jim Jordan is expected to get 19 votes.
According to The Hill:
McCarthy has faced weeks of opposition from hardline conservatives including Biggs, Reps. Bob Good (Va.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Ralph Norman (S.C.), who had been known as a “Never Kevin” group.
They said McCarthy’s resistance to rules changes, involvement in primaries and leadership history — among other issues — meant they could not support him for Speaker.
Over the weekend, McCarthy offered some late concessions to those withholding support for him including allowing a move to “vacate the chair” — a move to force a vote on ousting the Speaker — with the approval of five Republican members, rather than a threshold of at least half of the House GOP Conference.
But that did little to sway his critics, as nine House Republicans — which did not include the “Never Kevin” five — signaled in a Sunday letter.