Jordan To Push Forward With Speaker Bid After Plan To Empower McHenry Collapses

UPDATED AT 5:35 P.M. EDTCongressman Jim Jordan is running for speaker again after earlier Thursday planning to suspend his campaign and endorse a plan to empower the speaker pro tempore, Representative Patrick McHenry, as the conference preps for another round of voting following two weeks of chaos.Mr. Jordan announced that he would be continuing his campaign for the speakership after a GOP conference meeting on Thursday, saying, “I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race.” Mr. McHenry also emerged from the conference resolved to push for Mr. Jordan’s election.“I am focused on electing Jim Jordan, who is our speaker nominee, as speaker of the House,” Mr. McHenry told reporters. “That’s my goal. That’s my focus.”Mr. Jordan was expected to back an effort to empower Mr. McHenry to bring House business to the floor other than the election of a new speaker. Now the conference plans to move forward with a vote, possibly as soon as tonight.A former speaker, Representative Kevin McCarthy, met with Mr. McHenry, Congressman Tom Cole, and Congressman Tom Emmer this morning to discuss the issue.The push to empower Mr. McHenry had been gaining traction, as no Republican candidate for speaker has been able to gather enough support from the fractious GOP conference to become speaker.Two former speakers, Newt Gingrich and John Boehner, neither of whom are still in Congress, endorsed the idea earlier this week, with Mr. Gingrich writing in a column on his blog, “If the House Republicans cannot resolve the speakership in the next few days, they may be better off to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry with the job of running the House through at least the end of the year.” Mr. Boehner posted to X, “I agree.”The effort, though, ran aground, with Congressmen Steven Scalise and Tom Emmer indicating that they would prefer to choose a permanent speaker, a sentiment shared with the majority of the conference.“As I have made very clear over the last few days, we should never allow a Democrat-backed coalition government. Ever,” Mr. Emmer told Punchbowl. “The only coalition we should be looking to build is a Republican coalition uniting all of our conference.”Mr. Jordan’s speakership bid saw divisions within the Republican conference calcify, with opponents of Mr. Jordan’s hardball campaign for speaker describing how they came under enormous pressure. Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks said Wednesday that she’d received credible death threats because of her decision not to support Mr. Jordan for speaker, adding, “One thing I cannot stomach or support is a bully.”“Someone who threatens another with bodily harm or tries to suppress differing opinions undermines opportunity for unity and regard for freedom of speech,” she added.Others, like Congressman Carlos Gimenez, have reported that voters in his district have been receiving robo-calls telling constituents to pressure Mr. Gimenez into supporting Mr. Jordan.“Robo-calls, they’re not free. So somebody is actually funding this. And then he told me that he wasn’t behind it and he’s asked people to stop,” Mr. Gimenez told reporters Wednesday. “But if you’ve asked people to stop it, why aren’t they listening to you?”Mr. Gimenez recounted a conversation he had with Mr. Jordan, saying, “I told him, ‘I don’t really take well to threats,’” and, “If you threaten me, I’d probably go the other way.”In a statement on X, Mr. Jordan, who has not himself been accused of threatening any of his colleagues, condemned the actions of some of his supporters.“No American should accost another for their beliefs,” Mr. Jordan said. “We condemn all threats against our colleagues and it is imperative that we come together. Stop. It’s abhorrent.”

Jordan To Push Forward With Speaker Bid After Plan To Empower McHenry Collapses

Jordan To Push Forward With Speaker Bid After Plan To Empower McHenry Collapses

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