Jim Jordan scrambles to lock down support for Tuesday’s vote for House speaker

Rep. Jim Jordan gained significant momentum in his quest for the speaker’s gavel on Monday but was still working to persuade Republican holdouts to provide enough support for him to win in a floor vote Tuesday.

“He’s going to work through the night,” Rep. Kevin Hern, an Oklahoma Republican and Jordan backer, said after a closed-door Republican meeting at the Capitol.

Mr. Jordan, a conservative firebrand and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said he is determined to hold the vote Tuesday, even though he may not win on the first or subsequent rounds of voting.

“We are going to elect a speaker tomorrow. That’s what I think is going to happen,” Mr. Jordan told reporters as he walked through the Capitol.

Mr. Jordan said he was “real close” to the roughly 217 Republican votes needed to win the gavel.

According to one of Mr. Jordan’s closest political allies, fewer than 10 Republican holdouts remain.

“My gut tells me we’re somewhere south of 10 who are still being recalcitrant,” Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican, said on a radio talk show hosted by Erik Erikson.

Mr. Jordan’s decision to test his support in a vote remains a gamble.

As few as four Republicans can derail him, and it may be hard to flip several holdouts from Biden-leaning districts who do not back Mr. Jordan’s hard-charging, ultraconservative politics.

Several Republicans, including Rep. Carlos Giminez of Florida and Mike Lawler of New York, said they would vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, who was ousted on Oct. 3 by a small group of ultraconservatives and all House Democrats.

“I will not partake in this despicable coup,” Mr. Giminez said. “Speaker McCarthy should have never been removed to begin with.”

In the closed-door meeting, Republicans vented their anger about the speaker stalemate and several said they wouldn’t vote for Mr. Jordan.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told reporters he wouldn’t back Mr. Jordan, at least on the first round of voting, because it would reward the small band of arch-conservatives who ousted Mr. McCarthy over the opposition of 96% of the Republican conference.

“I’m here to be a team player,” Mr. Bacon said. “But I’ve got to stand up for fairness and following the rules.”

Mr. Bacon said there must be consequences for the eight conservatives who facilitated Mr. McCarthy’s ouster.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, who has served in the House for two decades, said he also would vote against Mr. Jordan and warned against Jordan backers threatening to change his mind.

“If anybody’s trying to get my vote, the last thing you want to do is try to intimidate or pressure me because then I close out entirely,” Mr. Diaz-Balart said. 

Mr. Jordan edged closer to 217 by picking up the support of key lawmakers, among them House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama, Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri and Rep. Ken Calvert of California.

Mr. Rogers had been threatening to join Democrats to elect a compromise speaker. He entertained the dramatic move because of his opposition to Mr. Jordan and frustration over the lack of a House speaker, which has paralyzed legislative business.

The move, which would have surrendered Republican control of the House, drew considerable backlash from other Republicans. Mr. Rogers said that after two “cordial, thoughtful, and productive conversations” with Mr. Jordan over the weekend, he changed his mind.

Mr. Rogers is among a group of Republicans who fear Mr. Jordan, an ardent supporter of spending cuts, will block future funding for Ukraine to battle Russia or otherwise oppose robust defense spending.

In a letter to Republicans, Mr. Jordan said he would leave it to Mr. Rogers and the other committee chairs to write and advance legislation.

He also sought to assure Republican lawmakers that he wouldn’t govern solely as a hard-line conservative but would unite all of the factions of the conference, including the moderate fringe.

“The role of a Speaker is to bring all Republicans together. That’s what I intend to do,” Mr. Jordan said.

Mr. Jordan’s letter praised the conference’s diversity. “We don’t march in lockstep like our Democratic colleagues,” he wrote.

The division, however, has hobbled Republicans’ ability to elect a speaker.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana was nominated for the job last week but dropped out a day later, blocked by hard-line conservatives from winning the support of 217 Republicans needed to survive in a vote on the House floor.

Mr. McCarthy’s short-lived hold on the gavel first required an unprecedented 15 rounds of voting until enough Republicans delivered their support.

Since Mr. McCarthy’s removal, the Republican-led House has been frozen. The rules require an elected speaker to conduct business. House lawmakers returning this week are eager to pass a resolution supporting Israel in its quest to defeat the terrorist group Hamas and are anticipating a request for Congress to deliver more military aid to the Jewish state.

Some Jordan holdouts, many of them backers of Mr. Scalise, said they are weighing a power-sharing agreement with Democrats to elect a speaker.

The move would require only a small group of Republicans working with all or most Democrats and would result in an unprecedented abdication of majority control.

Holdouts who have yet to endorse Mr. Jordan include lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee who fear the spending hawk will force them to drastically slash funding levels if he becomes speaker.

Mr. Jordan’s vote against the resolution to extend temporary government funding until Nov. 17, which prevented a government shutdown, is another sticking point with appropriators.

Rep. Steve Womack, a top Republican on the appropriations panel who had backed Mr. Scalise, would not commit to voting for Mr. Jordan. He said Republican lawmakers may never find a consensus candidate for speaker and a bipartisan solution may be needed.

“If it becomes apparent that nobody in America can get 217 right now, then at some point in time we are going to have to work across the aisle and figure out what it’s going to take to be able to get a speaker elected and get the ball rolling in Congress once again,” he said on CNN.

Mr. Womack said he would work with Democrats to elect a speaker “if it comes to that.”

Some of Mr. Jordan’s holdouts may eventually support him if the House holds multiple votes.

Mr. Bacon said his opposition isn’t about Mr. Jordan. His opposition is aimed at the lawmakers who threw out Mr. McCarthy. He wouldn’t say whether he would eventually vote for Mr. Jordan and help save his bid for speaker.

“I wish my name was Zaken,” he said ahead of Tuesday’s roll call vote. Lawmakers will cast votes alphabetically.