Jordan fails again in bid to become House speaker

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Jim Jordan failed again Wednesday on a crucial second ballot to become House speaker, the hard-fighting ally of Donald Trump losing even more GOP colleagues who are refusing to give him the gavel.

Next steps were highly uncertain as angry, frustrated Republicans looked at other options. A bipartisan group of lawmakers floated an extraordinary plan — to give the interim speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, more power to reopen the immobilized House and temporarily conduct routine business.

What was clear was that Jordan’s path to become House speaker was almost certainly lost. He was opposed by 22 Republicans, two more than he lost in first round voting the day before. No further votes Wednesday were scheduled.

“We’ll keep talking to members, keep working on it,” Jordan, a founding member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said after the vote, vowing to stay in the race.

The House came to another abrupt standstill, stuck now 15 days without a speaker — a position of power second in line to the presidency — since the sudden ouster of Kevin McCarthy. Once a formality in Congress, the vote for House speaker has devolved into another bitter GOP showdown for the gavel.

As Republicans upset and exhausted by the infighting retreated for private conversations, hundreds of demonstrators amassed outside the Capitol over the Israel-Hamas war, a stark reminder of the concern over having the House adrift as political challenges intensify at home and abroad.

Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Jordan, the combative Judiciary Committee chairman, made an unusual plea for party unity — almost daring his colleagues to put forward the alternative proposal for a temporary speaker.