Third time, no charm

WASHINGTON—Congressional Republicans launched into Friday hoping that the day would bring them closer to finding the next House speaker. But instead, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, struck out with a third failed floor vote. In an even more devastating blow to his bid, Jordan lost the majority support of his own party moments later in an internal 86-122 vote, leaving the Republicans without a clear speaker nominee going forward.

Following the closed-door vote, House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., announced that instead of holding another vote, the House would recess over the weekend.

“House Republicans will return on Monday for a candidate forum followed by an election process on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. The reason why I made that decision is we need space and time for candidates to talk to members,” McHenry said.

He pointed out that the various candidates over the past few days did not have adequate time to make their case.

Since Jordan’s internal loss, a flurry of Republicans have announced their candidacy for speaker, including Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, and Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, among others. On Friday afternoon, the former House Speaker endorsed Emmer for the seat.

In the meantime, some voters like Bill Roberts find the GOP’s division an increasingly frustrating scene to watch. Ever since his congressman, Matt Gaetz of Florida, led eight Republicans to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month, Roberts has waited for some semblance of a plan to get the House back in action. In principle, he supports his congressman’s messaging: The country needs to spend less.

“Matt’s views align very strongly with my views. He’s fiscally conservative. He supports the military,” Roberts said.

But now? What’s his plan to fix the problem he helped create? Roberts is still waiting for an answer.

“He may have achieved his short-term goal to get rid of McCarthy for whatever reason. But what he didn’t do was try to clean the mess up afterwards,” Roberts said. He also said he does not plan on voting for Gaetz again.

Voter perception like the one from Roberts is a concern for Republicans. But they have more immediate legislative concerns, including addressing the war in Israel and increasing security at the southern border. Even more pressing still, the House has to find a way to fund the government. Congress has until Nov. 17 before its temporary funding bill runs out. Without a speaker soon, Republicans and the rest of the federal government will face the threat of another government shutdown.

On his way out of the Republican meeting, Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., expressed some surprise at Jordan’s sudden loss of support. In Friday’s vote, he opposed Jordan after having voted for him twice. But he didn’t expect the party to drop a nominee who, just that morning, had been at the forefront.

“I certainly was surprised by the design now to start again. I voted for Jim twice. We’re at a point where we have yet to find that agreement. We’re running out of time,” Molinaro said.

Carolina Lumetta contributed to this report.