House GOP back to square one

by Amee LaTour - 10/20/23 5:19 PM ET

Evening Report

House GOP goes back to drawing board

House Republicans, for the third time this month, are back to square one in the process of choosing a Speaker-designate after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) garnered fewer votes in each of three rounds on the House floor.

Following the third and final failed vote for Jordan Friday, the Republican conference held a secret ballot and voted to rescind their support for the Ohio congressman.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is making calls for a Speaker run and has the backing of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), The Hill’s Emily Brooks reports.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chairman of the sizable Republican Study Committee, quickly tossed his hat in the ring after a majority of the GOP conference voted to no longer back Jordan for Speaker.

Part of Hern’s initial pitch: “There’s a lot of historical relationships that some are not going to be able to work around, and I don’t have those negatives out there.”

A spokesperson from Rep. Byron Donalds‘s (R-Fla.) office said Donalds is also pursuing the gavel, while Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said he is running again.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) has thrown his name into the ring and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) is also making calls.

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) also told reporters he’s seriously considering a bid, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch reported.

Next: A candidate forum is planned for Monday night, with a vote among Republicans for a nominee Tuesday morning, Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C) said.

Follow The Hill’s live blog here.

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

CATCH UP QUICK

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony as part of a deal reached with prosecutors in the Georgia 2020 election interference case.
Former President Trump will hold a rally in Hialeah, Florida, on Nov. 8, the same night as the third GOP presidential primary debate in nearby Miami.
The Hill’s Julia Mueller digs into congressional progressives’ calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, along with divisions among Democrats over how to approach the conflict.

INTERNATIONAL

White House requests $100 billion for Ukraine, Israel, border and more

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget,

submitted a request to Congress for $100 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies, border security and humanitarian aid.

That includes $61 billion for Ukraine, around $14 billion each for Israel’s defense and U.S.-Mexico border security, and a $9 billion “flexible pot of money” for addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza and elsewhere. Read the full report here.

MORE: Cotton: Biden’s $100B request ‘dead on arrival’

📊 FRIDAY FIGURES

Swing State Series — Over the next five weeks, we’ll give a snapshot of where things stand one year out in five battleground states for both president and Senate in 2024. First up:

The Cook Political Report rates Pennsylvania’s presidential election a Toss-up and the Senate race Lean Democrat.

Presidential peek: Most of the recent polling out of Pennsylvania testing a hypothetical rematch between President Biden and former President Trump shows them roughly tied:

RealClearPolitics’s average has Trump with 44.6 percent to Biden’s 43 percent.
That includes an early October Emerson poll showing Trump up 9 percentage points, with a credibility interval (similar to a margin of error) of 4.7 percentage points.
Check out how FiveThirtyEight’s (now 538) polling averages for Trump and Biden in Pennsylvania trended throughout 2020.

A late September Susquehanna Polling and Research, Inc. poll also tested Biden against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (R) in the state, finding them roughly tied.

Keep in mind: Pennsylvania voted Democratic in seven of the last eight presidential races:

In 2016, former President Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by less than 1 percentage point. Biden then won the state by little more than 1 point in 2020.

The Senate side: Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D) won his 2018 reelection bid by a double-digit margin but could see a more competitive race next year.

David McCormick, who barely lost the 2022 GOP Senate primary to Mehmet Oz, is running again.

A few recent hypothetical matchup polls show Casey with a small lead.
John Fetterman (D) flipped the state’s other Senate seat in 2022, defeating Oz by around 5 percentage points.

In the House: The state is also poised for a few competitive House elections. Cook considers the 7th and 8th congressional districts Toss-ups and the 17th district Lean Democrat.

Check back next Friday for an analysis of Arizona‘s 2024 battleground terrain.

Israel-Hamas conflict

Hamas releases two American hostages

Two Americans (a mother and daughter) held hostage by Hamas have been released, President Biden said in a release Friday.

Biden said Israel and Qatar were able to secure the release of the two Americans and that U.S. officials “have been working around-the-clock to free American citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas, and we have not ceased our efforts to secure the release of those who are still being held.”

The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports: “The U.S. has not confirmed the number of Americans believed to be among the more than 200 people Hamas is holding hostage.” Read more here.

IN OTHER NEWS

Musk says premium subscriptions coming to X

Two tiers of premium subscriptions are soon coming to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, according to owner Elon Musk. The more expensive option will be ad-free.

SAG-AFTRA’s ‘strike-friendly’ Halloween guidance

The SAG-AFTRA union is encouraging actors to dress as “generalized characters” or “characters from non-struck content, like an animated TV show” for Halloween as part of its guidance on “strike-friendly” costumes.

OP-EDS IN THE HILL

“Chaos is everywhere but the House of the Representatives” — Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) (Read here)

“Federal regulations don’t really affect economic growth” — Stuart Shapiro, Dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network. (Read here)