Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) lost a secret ballot held at a House GOP conference meeting on Friday, shortly after he lost his third and final vote on the House floor as Republicans’ nominee to be the next speaker of the House.
Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman reported that Jordan was soundly discarded by the conference, with 122 voting to move on from him and 86 voting to support him.
Jordan is no longer the GOP’s speaker-designate, leaving it an open question as to who Republicans will put forward next. They are expected to hold a candidate forum on Monday.
“Unfortunately, Jim is no longer going to be the nominee,” former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), whose ouster initiated this process, told reporters. “We’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”
The Ohio congressman and conservative firebrand secured the nomination earlier this week despite losing an intra-conference nominating contest to Majority Steve Scalise (R-LA), who dropped out despite having beaten out Jordan because a group of holdouts promised to oppose him on
On Tuesday, 20 Republicans voted for someone other than Jordan. On Wednesday, that number went up to 22. By Friday, that number had grown to 25.