House Republicans are hopeful they have the votes to elect the embattled speaker candidate from Ohio in an 11 a.m. CT vote Tuesday. Jordan carries the endorsement of former President Donald Trump – but that didn't carry him past Rep. Steve Scalise, the first embattled speaker candidate last week.
Scalise, from Louisiana, secured enough votes to become the party nominee but dropped out last week when he couldn't secure the necessary 217 votes to win in a floor vote before the full House. It was only then that Jordan earned the party's nomination – but he faces the challenge that Scalise did.
Like Scalise, Jordan earned enough votes to become the party's nominee. But when Republicans were asked if they would vote for Jordan on the House floor, he was 55 votes short of the required 217 at the close of business on Friday. His team spent the weekend trying to bring in more votes.
"When they go to the floor, they want to be confident that they're not going to go into 15 rounds [of voting] like [former Speaker Kevin] McCarthy did back in January. Then the Republicans and the Democrats can start to legislate – and as we obviously are seeing right now in the Middle East, there's lots of horrific situations happening there. There's already a bipartisan resolution right now to deal with this," Washington Times congressional reporter Kerry Picket said on Washington Watch Friday.
There will be no resolution, no aid, nothing, until a speaker is elected. "As of now, the floor is paralyzed," Picket told show host Jody Hice.
Republicans do indeed control the House, but the margin is only nine seats. Imposing your will requires party unity that is clearly missing.
"The problem is this extraordinarily small margin," Picket said. "As long as you have four Republicans who have issues with the nominee, whether it's Mr. Jordan, Mr. Scalise or whomever, they can hold up a particular Speaker as nominee. It doesn't matter who it is."
While Jordan sought to work his way up to 217 votes, his main party opposition was Austin Scott of Georgia who just threw his name into the race on Friday.
Is Scott a symbolic obstacle?
Scott is seen by some as a symbolic protest vote by Jordan opponents, an opportunity for them to say, "We fought the good fight." Picket appears to be among those who see it as such.
"The Austin Scott stuff is not going to linger that much," she stated. "Sometimes they like to make sure there doesn't appear to be a coronation for whoever is eventually the nominee."
There's growing support among Republicans for moving past the embarrassment of party division and returning to business, the journalist said.
"There's a huge faction of Republicans who are saying, 'Look, we don't care who it is at this point, whether it's Mr. Jordan or if it's Mr. McCarthy or if it's Mr. Scalise, just give us a Speaker so we can move forward at this point,'" Picket said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday that Democrats have had "informal discussions" with some Republicans on the possibility of forming a coalition leadership.
There's no lack of unity among Democrats as they have opposed every candidate put forward by the GOP.
"It's time to end the Republican civil war, so we can get back to doing the business of the American people. And we as House Democrats are committed to finding that bipartisan path forward in a meaningful way," Jeffries said.
Republicans can no longer 'upset the apple cart'
Robert Knight, a columnist for The Washington Times, says America is facing "existential dangers" on so many fronts that a small group of Republicans can no longer afford to upset the applecart when it comes to choosing a speaker.
"It's not a fun job when you have a razor-thin majority in the House," Knight acknowledges. "We've seen that with the uprisings among a small group of Republicans who have upset the applecart."
The conservative commentator argues the GOP can't afford a paralyzed Congress.
"We're facing existential dangers on so many fronts – from the immorality in the culture, to the Communist Chinese rising, to the Islamic terrorism, to an open border … you name it," he tells AFN. "Republicans have been nowhere near as effective as they need to be in pushing back and making their case. I know a lot of them are frightened by the media … it's not an even playing field."
