Jim Jordan falls short in first House speaker vote, with next attempt set for Wednesday

Washington — GOP Rep. Jim Jordan failed to secure the support needed to become House speaker in the first round of voting on Tuesday, leaving the lower chamber without a leader for at least another day as he tries to cobble together enough support to win the gavel.

Jordan lost the support of 20 of his fellow Republicans in Tuesday’s election, winning just 200 votes and falling short of the 217 needed to prevail. Democrats nominated Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who received 212 votes. 

Jordan told reporters at the Capitol that the next vote would take place Wednesday morning around 11 a.m. and said he had “good discussions” with his Republican colleagues. 

“We’re going to keep working, and we’re going to get to the votes,” he said.

Six Republicans voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3. Several others voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who withdrew his name from consideration last week, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Trump ally who didn’t run for reelection in 2022 when he ran for governor in New York.

Jordan said earlier that voting would continue “until we get a speaker.” He and his allies had hoped to wrap up the process by the end of the day to avoid a marathon of votes like those required to elect McCarthy in January. That election took 15 rounds of voting over four days before he was finally elected.

Alejandro Alvarez contributed to this report.