Jordan scraps plan for Speaker vote Thursday amid opposition: Live coverage

House Republicans and their nominee for Speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ended a marathon day with no Speaker, no clear path for the Ohio Republican to win the gavel — and even fewer ways out of their conundrum.

Jordan spiked plans to hold a third floor vote on his Speakership bid Thursday as more Republicans said they intended to vote against him on the next go around.

The House will return to vote on his third attempt on Friday at 10 a.m., a spokesperson said.

But it is likely that the number of Republican votes against him — 20 on his first ballot Tuesday, and 22 on the second ballot Wednesday — will only increase.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

— Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), a close ally of Jordan, wrote on X that, “We’ve heard from our colleagues and the American people. Additional votes are expected through the weekend.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will go to the House floor for a third shot at the Speakership at 10 a.m. on Friday, a spokesperson said.

The GOP’s Speaker nominee scrapped his plans for a third vote on Thursday as marathon meetings drug into the evening, but produced no signs that he made progress in swaying holdouts.

— Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks

Rep. John Rutherford (Fla.) confirmed Thursday he is still against Jordan for Speaker following the Speaker designate’s meeting with holdouts.

Asked if he believes there is no path forward for Jordan’s Speakership, Rutherford told reporters, “Correct and that’s what the meeting was about.”

Rutherford did not vote for Jordan on either of the first two rounds of voting, instead voting for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)

— Miranda Nazzaro and Mychael Schnell

Reps. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Fla.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) are still opposing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker after meeting with the Ohio Republican Thursday afternoon.

Gimenez told reporters that he plans to vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) again on the House floor after previously voting for him in the first two ballots.

“He was listening to us and he had some points. And it was it was good frank conversation,” Gimenez said. “I, you know, I want to thank him for the opportunity. I thought that it was it was productive, but it did not change my mind.”

Kelly said he plans to back Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), noting that he is “supporting the guy that I voted for and who won the election on October 11.” Kelly voted for Scalise on the first ballot but voted for former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on the second.

-Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said Thursday he received four death threats for not supporting Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)’s speakership bid, marking the latest lawmaker to receive such threats in recent days.

“So far, I’ve had four death threats, I’ve been evicted from my office in … Colorado — I have notice of an eviction because the landlord is mad with my voting record on the Speaker issue,” Buck said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press Now.”

Buck said his office has six full-time people answering the phones, and still has 20,000 messages they were unable to get to.

Buck voted against Jordan on both ballots, instead voting for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)

When asked about a heated exchange between former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday, Buck said the barrage of calls and threats to multiple lawmakers is partly to blame for the “temper” among members.

“And everybody in the conference is getting this, so it’s natural,” Buck said. “Family members have been approached and threatened … all kinds of things are going on. There’s going to be some tension.”

— Miranda Nazzaro

Jordan has left a meeting with opponents of his Speakership bid.

He did not answer any questions from reporters.

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said he still backs a plan to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as House Republicans struggle to unite behind one candidate.

“In the absence of an immediate resolution, we must empower Speaker Pro-Tempore Patrick McHenry to serve as Speaker temporarily to allow us to get back to work, move important legislation, while we settle on a permanent Speaker,” he said in a statement after meeting with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

He said that the “best thing” to happen next “is for cooler heads to prevail, past grievances to be dropped, and for Republicans to concede that ousting Kevin was a mistake and set things right.”

Lawler has opposed Jordan in both Speaker ballots so far.

— Lauren Sforza

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is currently huddling with some of his holdouts as he looks for a path to the gavel amid mounting GOP opposition.

Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are also in the meeting.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) is a ”fine gentleman,” and has accepted his apology following reports of a heated exchange between the lawmakers during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday.

A source in the room told The Hill Bost was “ready to lunge across the room,” following a heated interaction between former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Gaetz.

“Mike Bost is a fine, fine gentleman, he gets emotional at times,” Gaetz told reporters on Thursday. “He apologized, I fully accept this apology.”

Another source told The Hill the situation unfolded after McCarthy mentioned Gaetz by name while speaking at the mics during the meeting. Gaetz stood up to “kind of interrupt him and say something,” per the source in the room.

McCarthy then shot back, telling Gaetz to “sit your ass down,” the source said.

At that point, the source said Bost was “ready to lunge across the room.”

McCarthy claimed he did not yet at Gaetz. Meanwhile, Gaetz said he thought McCarthy “was yielding to me since he had mentioned me.”

— Miranda Nazzaro, Emily Brooks, Mychael Schnell

Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) is defending his resolution to expand the powers of Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), saying that the lack of a Speaker is a risk to national security.

“Without a Speaker, the U.S. is not able to sufficiently respond to the national security threats we and our allies face today. When my 8 Republican colleagues decided to vacate the chair, they clearly didn’t have a plan beyond fundraising,” Joyce wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“By empowering the Speaker Pro Tempore to preside over leg. business, we can respond to the horrific terrorist attacks in Israel while the House continues to choose our next Speaker. Anyone who is not onboard with this is not acting in good governance & weakening US defense,” he added.

Many Republicans have come out against Joyce’s proposal, with a handful saying that the plan is already dead. Joyce has maintained, however, that it is not dead as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) meets with Republican holdouts before potentially holding a third vote.

— Lauren Sforza

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) called the resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) the “biggest ‘F U’ to Republican voters,” while arguing the GOP does not “deserve the majority” if they go along with the plan.

“It’s the biggest ‘F U’ to Republican voters I’ve ever seen,” Banks told reporters on Thursday.

Calling it a “giant mistake” to give Democrats control in the chamber, Banks told reporters, “We don’t deserve the majority if we go along with a plan to give the Democrats control over the House of Representatives … it’s a giant betrayal.”

— Emily Brooks and Miranda Nazzaro

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said she would “strongly oppose” any effort to work with Democrats to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) to act as temporary Speaker and reiterated her support for Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid.

“The people across #ny21 and America can rest assured that I strongly oppose any attempt to create a Democrat backed coalition government,” she wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“I will vote to support Jim Jordan for Speaker on the House Floor. We must work to unify Republicans as the last line of defense to save America.”

— Sarah Fortinsky

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said he expects that there will be a third Speaker vote on Thursday.

“I’m voting for Jim Jordan, but I don’t agree with him on every subject. And I certainly don’t agree that what would be best for the House of Representatives is a temporary Speaker Pro Tem. I think we need to elect a speaker,” he told reporters.

“I think we’ve got great folks in our conference. I think Jim Jordan sits atop that list and I look forward to voting for him again today,” he said.

When pressed further on whether they will be a third Speaker ballot, he said that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) made a “soft announcement” saying he will go back to the floor. He also said that Jordan intends to have former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) nominate him from the floor.

-Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell

Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) said that his proposal to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is not dead, despite comments from several of his GOP colleagues.

“I didn’t hear it was dead. I think there are some of these folks in there who wish it was dead,” he said.

Joyce said that he will continue working to address the concerns of members and bring it up “in time.”

— Emily Brooks

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said his wife slept with a loaded gun after receiving more threatening phone calls from voters who were angry that Bacon voted against Rep. Jim Jordan’s Speakership bid.

“She had terrible phone calls,” Bacon told reporters. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I called her, and I go, ‘How you doing?’ She goes, ‘I slept really good. I had a loaded gun.’ So there were some, it was ugly phone calls.”

Bacon said his wife got additional phone calls last night that didn’t include death threats but were “just as bad.”

Bacon also reaffirmed his call for Jordan to drop out of the race and, when asked how the party moves forward from here, called for a “clean state.”

“We clean the whole slate. Start again. And follow the principle the majority will support the majority. That was violated from January until now. We should clean the slate. Put three or four nominees … but we have to have a commitment that we’re going to get behind the majority of the majority.”

— Sarah Fortinsky and Mychael Schnell

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said the conference is not moving forward on the plan to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) right now.

“We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work,” Jordan said. “We decided that wasn’t where we’re going to go. I’m still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race.”

— Emily Brooks

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the House GOP conference secretary, said that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is going to meet with the Republican holdouts before bringing a third vote to the floor on Thursday.

“What actually happened was Jim Jordan was gonna go talk to the 20 people or so, find out if he can move them, right. And also talk to his wife, which is kind of important,” McClain told reporters.

“And then I’m assuming all goes well, we’ll bring it back to the floor,” she added.

— Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) described any plan to further install Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as dead given roadblocks within the party.

Kammack said the GOP was unwilling to partner with Democrats to further any resolution that would cement power with McHenry.

“That’s a path that nobody wants to go down. But I think people recognize that they’re playing with fire,” she said of reaching across the aisle.

She said that’s “all the more reason” people have pushed for the 22 holdouts on Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to meet with the speaker designate. 

“Let’s get in a room. Let’s hash this out,” she said.

— Rebecca Beitsch

Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said that the resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is dead.

“The resolution is dead,” Donalds told reporters. “Yeah, I think it’s dead. I mean, like I said over there from my colleagues that wanted to support it — I understand why but I just don’t think that it’s gonna happen. We do not have support in our conference for it.”

Donalds said he does not think the resolution will come to the floor, adding that he doesn’t think that McHenry supports the resolution either.

“I think honestly, he feels that it constitutionally, we should not jerry-rig the Speaker’s chair,” Donalds said of McHenry. “We have to elect a Speaker. That is our constitutional obligation. Patrick, to his credit, respects that, he honors it and he wants that to occur, not this jerry-rigging resolution.”

Buchanan also said that based on “reading the room, this thing is dead.” He also said that he did not think Democrats would help back such a resolution.

— Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said Thursday he was prepared to back installing McHenry as speaker pro temp but said the conference failed to rally around any single plan for how to do so.

“You know, it’s just the concepts being discussed,” he said.

— Rebecca Beitsch

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) criticized the proposed plan to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as a “complete betrayal.”

“I will not sit back and watch a complete betrayal of the GOP base with this ‘plan’ that’s being discussed,” she wrote on X, formerly 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.”

She is just the latest Republican who backed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for the Speakership to rail against the proposed plan.

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) also took aim at the plan, telling reporters that it would be a “mistake.” He said he authored a letter urging his colleagues to work later hours snd weekends, adding that going home “undermines’ electing a Speaker.

“We have a job which is to elect a speaker not a speaker pro temp. Any resolution, anything that undermines that process is a mistake,” he said, according to CSPAN.

-Lauren Sforza

Moderate Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) called for a “reset” after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) threw his support behind a resolution empowering Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as the temporary speaker.

“We need a reset,” Newhouse told CNN’s Manu Raju, when asked whether Jordan should end his speaker bid.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) warned that the House is headed toward “uncharted” territory after some members floated a plan to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)

He said members of the GOP conference are pouring over copies of the Constitution, the law that established the speaker pro tempore and the House rules.

“We are in completely unchartered constitutional territory as a country in the middle of a Middle East war,” he told reporters.

He also blasted the eight Republicans who joined with Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the post earlier this month, suggesting that they “clearly did not have a plan.”

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

-Lauren Sforza and Mychael Schnell

Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, warned offices on Capitol Hill against empowering Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C).

Heritage is considering making the resolution to expand McHenry’s powers a “key vote” that will apply to the organization’s legislative scorecard for members.

“Cutting a deal with Democrats on control of the Floor activities concedes a conservative agenda that Americans elected a Republican majority to advance,” Heritage wrote, according to a copy of an email obtained by The Hill.

Republicans who had staunchly supported Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker are now fuming at him over a plan to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) to move legislation on the House floor until January.

“This resolution is really dangerous. We need to have a NORMAL election for speaker. @Jim_Jordan , I respect you but it is a massive mistake to back this,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Others also pushed back on the idea.

“Oh, hell no. Hades no,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) told reporters.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said Republicans “shouldn’t be setting this precedent,” and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said he was “absolutely” going to vote against it.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) wrote on X that he would “never vote to empower Speaker Pro Tem McHenry.”

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz,) also said he would vote against a resolution, telling reporters that he was “not a fan” of the suggested move. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said on X that it would set a “dangerous precedent,” adding that he would oppose any resolution enact a temporary Speaker.

— Emily Brooks and Lauren Sforza

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said that he has been threatened for supporting Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.) for the Speakership.

“I was threatened for supporting Jim Jordan so I reported the threat to the Capitol Police. I didn’t blame the Republicans who voted against Jim Jordan,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

He is the latest lawmaker to said he has been threatened over Speaker votes. Reps. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) both revealed that they have received death threats since pulling their support for Jordan in the second Speaker ballot Wednesday.

—Lauren Sforza

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) joked about the House’s current struggle to reach a 217 majority on votes, saying to reporters, “I can tell you this, there here ain’t 217 votes for Jesus, Mary and Joseph in there on any subject.”

Amodei said a vote on a resolution to empower McHenry is more likely in the Republican conference, while noting, “I can’t tell you whether that’ll even get a majority in the conference.”

— Miranda Nazzaro

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) said he would oppose a resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

“Oh, hell no. Hades no,” he told reporters when asked his stance on a temporary Speaker. “We’re elected to lead, not kick the can down the road.”

Fallon also warned that it’s “unfortunate” that Democrats could determine the outcome of a proposed resolution to empower McHenry.

“He made it clear he doesn’t even want this job, but it was something that was thrust upon him,” he said. “I think it’s unfortunate that a majority party is letting minority party dictate this resolution or anything for that matter, because if they vote for it, it’ll pass. If they oppose it, it’s going to fail.”

He also said that while he sees why some Republicans would back a resolution to expand McHenry’s powers to get back to work, he just disagrees with it.

—Lauren Sforza

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said that he will support expanding the powers of Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

“Our Speaker Designee @Jim_Jordan is supporting returning the House of Representatives to normalcy by empowering our Speaker Pro-Tempore Patrick McHenry until January. We must get back to work for the American people & vote on the Floor —asap. It’s the right thing to do,” Gimenez wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Gimenez has previously said he would back a resolution empowering McHenry. Gimenez has not backed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in his bid for the Speakership and had instead voted for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on both of the Speaker ballots.

—Lauren Sforza