Jordan Puts Speaker Bid On Hold, Endorses McHenry As Interim Speaker

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) put his Speaker of the House bid on hold Thursday and backed Representative Patrick T. McHenry (R-NC) for the role of interim speaker.

Jordan opted against forcing a third vote for the speaker position on Thursday, confronted by resistance from a segment of mainstream Republican holdouts,  according to The New York Times. 

Jordan is endorsing McHenry as the temporary speaker. As McHenry manages the speaker election process, Jordan aims to gather more backing for his own bid, according to the Times.

McHenry is currently serving as the acting Speaker of the House till further notice until one is elected by Congress.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) criticizing the plan to make McHenry as the next Speaker of the House as an act of betrayal.

“I will not sit back and watch a complete betrayal of the GOP base with this ‘plan’ that’s being discussed,” said Boebert writing on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I ran because I was sick and tired of politicians coming up here and cutting deals and releasing ‘holier than thou’ statements about why we just had to accept it.”

After failing to clinch a majority on Tuesday, Jordan’s support among Republicans fell further on Wednesday. He convened a confidential meeting with his Republican colleagues on Thursday morning to discuss his subsequent steps.

This setback for Jordan marks a split within the party, as the mainstream members distance themselves from the ultraconservative wing he leads. 

This internal discord has left the House without a chosen speaker during escalating tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine, all while facing a crucial mid-November deadline to approve a budget and prevent a government shutdown.

This political wrangling within the Republican majority in the House of Representatives comes in the wake of the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the first member of Congress to be voted out of this position in U.S. history.

This leadership vacuum has even led to suggestions of former President George W. Bush as a potential successor, proposed by a Democratic Congressman.

Trump was once mentioned as the possibility to be the next Speaker of the House, but the former president shot those talks down.

The GOP’s struggle to endorse its next Speaker and the unprecedented proposal of a former president for the role highlights the significant discord within the party ranks, potentially impacting key legislative decisions during crucial global events and domestic deadlines.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) warned that the House is headed toward uncharted territory empowering McHenry as the next Speaker to succeed McCarthy.

“Where I come from as a veteran, you’re gonna blow a bridge, you better have another one to cross,” said Waltz in an interview with The Hill. “And those 8 clearly didn’t have another one to cross before they blew this bridge.”

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