House convenes for third round of voting for speaker as Jordan pushes ahead

The House’s first order of business Friday, as it has been on days with votes in the past, is recording how many members are in attendance, in what’s known as a quorum call. 

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a freshman Republican member from Wisconsin, left Washington Thursday for Israel for what he called a fact-finding mission. 

“After retiring from the military in 2014, I made a solemn promise to the Jewish people that if anything like what took place on October 7, 2023, were to ever happen, that I would help them and their nation to the best of my ability,” Van Orden told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I am keeping that promise.”

It’s not yet clear which other members may be absent. Two seats are currently vacant, meaning the total number of House members stands at 433.

Jordan, who has been dubbed an election denier by some of his Republican House colleagues, again cast doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election during his press conference Friday morning. 

A reporter asked Jordan point-blank if he believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen. 

“I think there were all kinds of problems with the 2020 election. I’ve been clear about that,” Jordan responded. 

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol said in its final report that Jordan was “a significant player” in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, noting that he attended “numerous post-election meetings” with senior White House officials and Trump allies about how to challenge the election. The report also said that on Jan. 2, 2021, Jordan led a conference call with Trump and other lawmakers that raised the idea of “issuing social media posts encouraging President Trump’s supporters to ‘march to the Capitol’ on the 6th.”

In a press conference Friday morning, two hours before the third ballot for speaker, Jordan said the House needs to be open to “get to work for the American people.” The Ohio Republican signaled he is not dropping out of the race.

“Our plan this weekend is to get a speaker elected to the House of Representatives as soon as possible,” Jordan told reporters.

Asked if he intends to take roll-call vote after roll-call vote until there’s a speaker, Jordan responded, “Look, there’s been multiple rounds of votes for speaker before — we all know that,” a reference to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s 15 ballots to win the speakership.

But Jordan offered no roadmap Friday morning showing his path to 217 votes, the number of Republican votes he needs if all members vote for a candidate. His detractors appeared unswayed after a meeting with Jordan Thursday.

“We had a good conversation, we’ll continue to do that,” Jordan said in response to a question about whether he’d converted any of them.  

The speaker designee made the case that the House has important work to do, like passing more funding for Israel. Jordan said the House can’t properly evaluate the request President Biden is sending to Congress for aid to Ukraine and Israel if it’s not open, and the House can’t be open without a speaker. 

“In short, we need to get to work for the American people,” he said. 

GOP Reps. Nick LaLota, of New York, and Ken Buck, of Colorado, both tell CBS News they’ve received new threats — including death threats. Rep. Drew Ferguson, of Georgia, said there have been death threats against his family ,and Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks, of Iowa, posted about credible threats targeting her after she voted for Rep. Kay Granger, of Texas, in the second speaker ballot.

LaLota wouldn’t ascribe blame to any pressure campaign by Jordan’s surrogates or conservative media champions. He said the threats are likely the byproduct of “extremists” who are “disgruntled” in a politically toxic environment.  

But Buck said Jordan isn’t doing enough about it and should do more to tamp down these threats. 

Jordan has disavowed the targeting and threats against GOP lawmakers.

Jordan told colleagues Thursday he would support a proposal to allow Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry to oversee the House until January, while he remained in the race and tried to muster support.

But that idea was met with stiff opposition from dozens of GOP lawmakers and Jordan soon backtracked, saying he would instead move forward with more floor votes. 

“We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn’t where we’re going to go,” he told reporters. 

Ellis Kim contributed.

In the second ballot, Jordan lost more ground than he gained, winning 199 votes, compared to the 200 he won on the first ballot. Twenty-two Republicans voted against him. 

The House is now in its third week without a leader as Republicans’ path forward remained unclear. GOP Rep. Ken Buck, who opposed Jordan in both ballots, predicted that Jordan “bleeds three or four votes” if there are more rounds of voting ahead. “More and more members are going to be able to say, ‘I voted for him the first two times, now we have to move on,'” Buck told CBS News’ Major Garrett Wednesday on “The Takeout” podcast.

But Jordan seemed to suggest Wednesday after he lost the second ballot that it was just a matter of time — possibly months — before his numbers turned around.

“Speaker McCarthy, he had a two-month runway from when he got the conference nomination and when we got to that first week in January, so we’re right where he was in his numbers,” Jordan said, referring to the time between the GOP conference vote to nominate McCarthy after the November 2022 midterm elections and the House floor vote at the start of the new Congress in January 2023.

Jordan lost the support of 20 of his fellow Republicans in his first attempt at the speakership, winning 200 votes and falling short of the 217 needed to prevail. Democrats nominated Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who received 212 votes. 

“We’re going to keep working, and we’re going to get to the votes,” he said afterward.

Six Republicans voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3. Several others voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who withdrew his name from consideration last week, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Trump ally who didn’t run for reelection in 2022 when he ran for governor in New York.

Jordan said earlier that voting would continue “until we get a speaker.” He and his allies had hoped to wrap up the process by the end of the day to avoid a marathon of votes like those required to elect McCarthy in January. That election took 15 rounds of voting over four days before he was finally elected

Tensions came to a head in Thursday’s meeting of the House GOP conference, and several Republicans leaving the meeting voiced their opposition to the plan to elevate McHenry in lieu of a permanent speaker. 

After about three hours, those exiting the room described the tone as “angry,” with Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher muttering to reporters that he was heading to a chapel to get a rosary. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was behind McCarthy’s ouster earlier this month, confirmed he had a verbal confrontation with the former speaker during the meeting. Gaetz said McCarthy’s “passions are a little inflamed.”

“I think he’s working through the stages of grief, and might be at the anger part,” Gaetz said. 

The Florida Republican was asked about reports that Rep. Michael Bost lunged at him during the meeting. Gaetz said he didn’t know if he would describe it as a lunge, but said Bost was pretty angry. 

Gaetz said he expressed that having a “speaker-lite” is a bad idea, referring to McHenry, and he’s still supporting Jordan.

Multiple members said they opposed the idea of giving McHenry more power as the speaker drama plays out, with several telling CBS News that the proposal “is dead” and “will not come to the floor.”

— Nikole Killion and Kathryn Watson