House Republicans are set to hold a full House floor vote Tuesday over whether to elect Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as the next speaker of the House.
If the vote takes place as scheduled Tuesday, it will come two weeks after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, was ousted from the position in a historic first in the U.S. Congress.
Jordan won the GOP’s nomination for speaker in a secret ballot on Friday, but a vote following the nomination showed that more than 50 Republicans would oppose Jordan on the floor, according to The Associated Press. That would leave Jordan, who is in his ninth term, well short of the 217 votes needed to win the speakership.
However, since the Friday vote, Jordan has had to pick up supporters and has garnered several surprising endorsements, including House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., and Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., who last week said she was a “hell no” after accusing Jordan of sabotaging her friend Steve Scalise’s bid for the gavel, Politico reported.
Scalise, R-La., the majority leader, won the first Republican conference nomination vote for speaker last Wednesday. However, more than a dozen far-right Republicans said they would not vote for Scalise. Scalise announced Thursday he was withdrawing from consideration.
Jordan, who came in second in the first round of voting in the conference, vowed to support Scalise and urged those who supported him to back Scalise.
Democrats are expected to nominate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York to serve as speaker. Republicans control the House 221-212.
The House, which has 435 seats, currently has 433 members and two vacancies.
So, what will happen on Tuesday?
The House will go into session at noon Tuesday, and once there is a quorum — a minimum number of members needed to proceed to a vote — both parties will nominate a person to be the next speaker. Democrats will nominate Jefferies and Republicans will nominate Jordan, though someone who opposes him may nominate someone else.
Once voting begins, each member will be called by name and asked for their vote.
The person with a majority of the votes from those present and voting will be named speaker, a position that is second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president.
In January, McCarthy needed 15 rounds of voting to get the number of votes he needed to become speaker. The voting goes on until someone wins.
