Jim Jordan’s vote count is “in decline,” a Republican congressman has noted, as he predicted the controversial hardline Ohioan would fail to be elected speaker of the House of Representatives.
Jordan held an initial vote on his candidacy on Tuesday, and a second on Wednesday, winning even fewer votes than the first.
A third vote is scheduled for Thursday, with Jordan’s allies desperately trying to win over doubters.
Don Bacon, a Nebraska congressman, said his wife had received anonymous text messages threatening him unless he voted for Jordan. Bacon said Jordan had no chance in future elections.
“We are confident that he will lose another five or six votes in the next vote,” Bacon told Fox News on Wednesday. “He’s getting worse.”
Don Bacon told Fox News on Wednesday that Jim Jordan would not be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives
A handful of disgruntled Republicans immediately voted against Jim Jordan on Wednesday
Twenty-two of Jordan’s disgruntled Republican colleagues – two more than Tuesday – voted against him on Wednesday.
“I believe he’s ready,” Bacon told CNN.
Angie Bacon, his wife, received a text saying, “Your husband better support Jim Jordan.”
Another text read: ‘Your husband will never hold political office again.’
A third said: ‘What a disappointment (sic) and failure he is.’
Bacon voted for Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday, dealing another blow to Jordan’s vote count.
Another named in the voting tally was former Speaker John Boehner, who resigned in 2015 and now works as a lobbyist.
There is no end in sight to the disarray among Republicans in the House of Representatives, two weeks after McCarthy became the first speaker in history to be impeached.
Since then, the House of Representatives has been paralyzed, unable to conduct business in a month before the government shuts down again.
Now there are questions about what the conference can do next to avoid the chaotic scenario of January, when it took 15 rounds of voting to elect McCarthy.
With the Republican Party’s slim majority, Jordan could afford to lose only four votes in the chamber with the Republican Party’s razor-thin majority.
On Tuesday, 20 Republicans voted against Jordan, wiping out his chance to become chairman in the first round of voting. He met the same fate on Wednesday in the second voting round
Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry is perhaps the clearest path to a longer-term speaker solution
“People keep talking about the personal problems they have with other members and I think that’s one reason why we need term limits in Congress,” a frustrated Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a staunch Jordan supporter, told me , to DailyMail. com after the vote.
Meanwhile, those who have opposed Jordan have reportedly received threats from local conservative leaders claiming they would be put out of work if they did not vote for the incendiary Ohio party.
For moderates, it could be a choice between voting against Jordan and risking a right-wing primary, and voting for Jordan and angering independent-minded voters.
“He has the American people behind him,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said of Jordan, predicting he would eventually become chairman.
“Each of these guys gets a lot of calls, and they should,” he told DailyMail.com. “He’s an American hero.”
Rep. Mike Garcia, a moderate Republican from California, suggested that Republicans take a field trip to Gettysburg to build unity.
“It sounds weird, but let’s go to Gettysburg or something. Let’s go somewhere meaningful to our country’s history so the Republican Party can once again remember why we do what we do.”
Ohio Republican Rep. Dave Joyce is expected to nominate interim chairman Patrick McHenry to the top position shortly after Jordan’s defeat. Support for this move is divided among Republicans, meaning it will require support from Democrats.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said that would be “unconstitutional” and would “do enormous damage to the House of Representatives.”
On Tuesday, 20 Republicans voted against Jordan, destroying his chance to become chairman on the first ballot. He lost two more GOP votes in the runoff.
Jordan, chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee and co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, had broad appeal from his party’s right wing, but moderate and pragmatic conservatives were angered by the process by which he arrived at the speaker’s nomination.
Donald Trump endorsed Jordan for the top Republican position and reiterated his support in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
“Jim Jordan will be a GREAT Speaker of the House of Representatives. As everyone knows, I long ago gave him my full and total approval!’
Democrats remain united around Hakeem Jeffries, who serves as minority leader.