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Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican nominee for House speaker, plans to steer clear of pushing Thursday for a third round of voting on his bid for the post, according to multiple published reports.
Instead, the Ohio Republican is expected to support efforts that would have the House’s temporary speaker, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, serve in the post until January, the reports said. Jordan isn’t planning to end his speaker bid on Thursday, but rather just not seek a third ballot in the near term.
Jordan ran into more trouble Wednesday in his push to become the next speaker, as the number of fellow Republicans voting against the congressman rose to 22 in a second ballot, up from 20 on Tuesday.
Betting markets have been seeing McHenry as more likely than Jordan to get the speaker job on a more permanent basis. The North Carolinian’s chances stood at 41% around mid-day Thursday, while Jordan’s had dived to just 6%, according to one betting market, Smarkets.
The decision to hold off on a third ballot by Jordan — an ally of former President Donald Trump and co-founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus — comes after analysts had warned that the process of picking a new leader was preventing the Republican-run House from addressing crucial matters, such as avoiding a government shutdown next month and supporting Israel. Officials from President Joe Biden’s administration and other Democrats have criticized the GOP over the House drama, which began more than two weeks ago with the historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“President Biden is leading and standing up for our national security interests on the world stage, fighting to reduce costs like energy and junk fees — both of which he took recent action on — and bringing the nation together to support Israel in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in its history,” said White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates in a statement on Thursday morning. “Meanwhile, House Republicans continue their downward spiral into chaos and away from governing.”
Related: Israel could get $10 billion and Ukraine $60 billion under Biden request
Republican Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio has indicated he’s ready to introduce a resolution that would put McHenry in the speaker job more permanently and expand the interim speaker’s powers. There’s also a view among some experts on congressional procedures that McHenry isn’t facing any practical limits in running the House and doesn’t need to have his powers expanded.
Any measure focused on McHenry is expected to require the support of some Democrats in order to pass the narrowly divided House, because it wouldn’t get support from some Republicans.
“Expanding powers for a temporary Speaker is a dangerous precedent and exactly what the Democrats hoped would happen. I’m a NO vote!” said GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana in a post on X.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, has signaled openness to the McHenry option, saying the North Carolinian is respected on both sides of the aisle.
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