WASHINGTON ― Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) dropped his bid to become the 56th speaker of the House of Representatives on Friday following a vote by his Republican colleagues.
Republicans voted against keeping Jordan as their speaker-designee by a margin of 86 to 112, lawmakers told reporters after their meeting in the Capitol basement. Jordan then accepted the result.
“Unfortunately, Jim is no longer going to be the nominee,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters. “We will have to go back to the drawing board.”
Republicans have had no leader since chucking McCarthy out of the speaker’s suite earlier this month because he’d been overly cooperative with Democrats.
All House business has ceased as Republicans try to find a replacement for McCarthy, but they’ve been unable to agree among themselves after first nominating Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and then Jordan.
At least 20 Republicans voted against Jordan on the House floor three separate times this week, depriving him of the 217 votes he needed to become speaker. Republican control just 221 seats in the House.
Jordan had told HuffPost before the secret ballot among Republicans on Friday that he intended to keep trying to win his colleagues over. He said he had lost his most recent House floor vote by a smaller margin than some people expected.
House members will now head home for the weekend.
“Monday, we’re going to come back and start over,” Scalise told reporters.