This just got even uglier for Jim Jordan

| 9:57 am EDT October 14, 2023
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Even though Jim Jordan managed to secure the Republican nomination for Speaker of the House on Friday, the House was then sent home for the weekend without holding a full vote. So it wasn’t surprising when various media reports suggested that Jordan might be as much as ninety votes short. Now it’s getting even worse for him.

Jordan is presumably using the weekend to try to wrangle votes from within his own House Republican caucus. But former House Republican Barbara Comstock now says that according to her sources inside the House, Republicans on the Armed Services and Appropriations committees are lining up to make sure Jordan doesn’t have the votes. She says that if this blockade holds, there’s “no chance” Jordan can find the votes to become Speaker.

So if Jim Jordan’s candidacy is indeed down the tubes, what happens next? Kevin McCarthy would presumably make another run at it. Other House Republicans might throw their hat in the ring. But there’s no indication that any of them can get enough votes to become Speaker.

If the Speaker position remains vacant long enough, the fourteen House Republicans seeking reelection in toss-up races in moderate districts will start to worry that the resulting embarrassment will cost them their seats in 2024. Then it’ll be a matter of at what point they decide to simply vote “present” (or stay home) and allow Democrats to pick a Speaker. As crazy of a scenario as that sounds, it’s no less crazy than what we’ve seen play out in the House over the past two weeks. Stay tuned.