Jim Jordan out of Speaker race

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is now out of the race for Speaker of the House. The House Republican Conference voted him out after he lost a third House Speaker election. The Conference will host a Candidate Forum on Monday, but at least two candidates have already announced.

Jim Jordan loses third round

The House convened this morning at 10:00 a.m. EDT for yet another round of voting. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), former Speaker of the House, nominated Jim Jordan, while Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) nominated Hakeem Jeffries.

Oddly enough, four Members of the House, two each Republicans and Democrats, were absent from the vote. They are Representatives:

• Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas),
• Wesley Hunt (R-Texas),
• Donald Payne (D-N.J.), and
• Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.).

Rep. Van Orden at least had a justification: he is on a fact-finding tour of Israel.

The vote in the House for the Speakership went as follows:

The RINO Roster

All the Democrats present voted for Mr. Jeffries. The Republicans voting against Jordan, and those for whom they voted instead, were:

1. Don Bacon (NE-2nd): Patrick McHenry
2. Vern Buchanan (FL-16th): Byron Donalds
3. Ken Buck (CO-4th): Tom Emmer
4. Lori Chavez-Deremer (OR-5th): McHenry
5. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-26th): Scalise
6. Anthony D’Esposito- (NY-4th): Lee Zeldin
7. Jake Ellzey (TX-6th) Mike Garcia
8. Drew Ferguson (GA-3rd): Scalise
9. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1st): McHenry
10. Andrew Garbarino (NY 2nd): Lee Zeldin
11. Carlos Gimenez (FL-28th): McCarthy
12. Tony Gonzales (TX-23rd): Scalise
13. Kay Granger (TX-12th): Scalise
14. John James (MI-10th): Scalise
15. Tom Kean (NJ-7th): McCarthy
16. Jen Kiggans (VA-2nd): McHenry
17. Nick LaLota (NY-1st): Zeldin
18. Mike Kelly (PA-16th): Scalise
19. Mike Lawler (NY-17th): McHenry
20. Marinette Miller-Meeks (IA-2nd): McHenry
21. Marc Molinaro (NY-19th): Zeldin
22. John Rutherford (FL-5th): Scalise
23. Mike Simpson (ID-2nd): Scalise
24. Pete Stauber (MN-8th): Bruce Westerman
25. Steve Womack (AR-3rd): Scalise

After that, the House Republican Conference convened in closed session. At that session, they voted 112 to 86 to rescind his nomination. After the vote, Jim Jordan spoke sorrowfully to reporters.

Well, I told the conference it was an honor to be their Speaker designee. But I felt it was important that we all know the answer to the question if they wanted me to continue in that role. And so we put the question to them. They made a different decision.

I told the conference that I appreciated getting to work with everyone, talk with everyone. I got to know members in our conference that I didn’t really know that well over the last three weeks, and that we need to come together and figure out who our Speaker is going to be.

I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people. And I’m also going to go back to work. We got several depositions lined up next week in the Judiciary Committee, work that we need to do for the American people and our investigative work.

So we’ll go back to work there. But it’s important we do unite. Let’s figure out who that individual is, get behind him, and get to work for the American people.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

CNAV earlier today reported on the corruption within Republican ranks that the Speaker’s race has exposed.

Who’s up next?

Rep. McHenry scheduled a Candidates’ Forum for Monday and another Conference voting session Tuesday. But Rep. McCarthy has already endorsed Republican Whip Tom Emmer for the post.

But Emmer has some competition. Rep. Byron Donalds is also in the running, according to the Naples Daily News. USA Today named Emmer and Donalds, and also Reps. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), Mike Johnson (R-La.), and Pete Sessions (R-Texas).