Jordan set to stop speaker balloting, support powers for McHenry

Congress

Jim Jordan is set to announce that he will not seek a Thursday third ballot in the speaker race and instead support a plan to let Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) run the House temporarily.

The Ohio Republican’s decision, confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, comes as he faced an insurmountable path to the top gavel. It’s a remarkable victory for centrists who crafted the proposal to empower McHenry, who didn’t seek out the speakership.

Jordan’s decision came as House Republicans gathered for a closed-door member meeting with his allies attempting to rescue a sputtering effort that lost — rather than gained — votes on Wednesday. His embrace of a vote on the proposal to empower McHenry isn’t entirely surprising, since he indicated as much on Wednesday.

But Jordan is still not indicating where his latest maneuver will leave his flailing speakership bid, since temporarily boosting McHenry doesn’t fully solve the House GOP’s broader speakership chaos.

Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), author of the plan to empower McHenry until Jan. 3, said that “if anything, it buys [Jordan] more time to do what he needs to do in private” to win over his skeptics.

Joyce added that he hopes to see a majority of House Republicans support his idea. Democrats are also expected to back it in significant numbers in a bid to reopen the shuttered chamber, though party leaders have not decided whether to formally whip the vote.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who initiated the rebellion that took down former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, suggested he would do “everything” to block Joyce’s power-for-McHenry plan. He argued on Thursday that it amounted to “twisting and torturing the constitution to empower a temporary speaker.”

Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who chairs the Trump-aligned Freedom Caucus, also slammed the proposal to empower McHenry and indicated that conservatives would oppose it in large numbers.

“This is the biggest F.U. to Republican voters I’ve ever seen,” Banks said.

Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) took the broader fury to a new level during Thursday’s meeting by asking Jordan to step down as speaker nominee if he supports empowering McHenry, describing his simultaneous refusal to end his campaign as self-serving, according to two people familiar with her remarks.

Jordan and his supporters have said he will refuse to back down for good from the speakership fight, even after two failed floor votes. Yet the reality is that his opponents, who reached 22 in number on Wednesday, have more than enough might to defeat him.

Several of those GOP lawmakers have insisted that if Jordan did force a third vote on the floor, he would lose even more votes — what many Republicans see as an all-but-certain end to his campaign for speaker. Even Jordan’s supporters have acknowledged that his detractors are likely unmovable, in part because of a conservative pressure campaign that has only backfired.

“If you look at the mix of who is voting against him now, it’s more the senior members. And they’re just resolved and they’re not going to take that,” said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who backs Jordan but has flirted with throwing his hat in the ring if the Ohioan withdraws.

Thursday’s meeting, according to one person familiar with the planning, is structured in such a way as to prevent alternative speaker candidates from formally pitching themselves. It’s a subtle way for the speaker hopeful to stave off possible rivals.

Jordan’s attempts to win over more holdouts have, so far, only drawn more criticism. Some of his backers are also growing frustrated with his allies’ tactics, which have even involved nasty threats to members who have opposed him on the floor.

The wife of Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), for instance, received profane and slur-ridden voicemails in which a man threatened not to leave Bacon’s family alone over his refusal to support Jordan, according to an audio recording shared with POLITICO.

Jordan himself has not taken part in these tactics and has publicly disavowed them.

“A lot of my colleagues have been under a pressure campaign, said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), one of the no votes. “I’m not accusing Mr. Jordan is directing it or ordering it, but surrogates are certainly at work … and it’s hardening the position.”

Jordan isn’t facing pushback from one faction alone — rather, it’s a group that criss-crosses vulnerable incumbents, appropriators, defense hawks and old-school governing-minded Republicans.

Meanwhile, the chorus of GOP candidates who could throw their own name in for speaker is only growing longer. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) said Thursday that he would consider it, but all the potential alternative contenders are waiting on Jordan before they make public moves.