Jim Jordan Announces Bid for Speakership

Mary Margaret Olohan / October 04, 2023

Congressman Jim Jordan is officially running for speaker of the House of Representatives, the congressman’s office confirmed to The Daily Signal Wednesday.

The Ohio Republican’s confirmation comes just one day after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. Eight Republicans and all Democrats present voted to remove McCarthy, who has said that he will not run again for speaker.

Republican Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Matt Rosendale of Montana joined Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in voting to remove McCarthy as speaker. The final vote was 216-210 to oust McCarthy.

Gaetz had introduced a motion on Monday night to remove McCarthy, telling press, “I have enough Republicans where at this point next week, one of two things will happen: Kevin McCarthy won’t be the speaker of the House or he’ll be the speaker of the House working at the pleasure of the Democrats.”

Following the vote, Gaetz told press that he has no intention of running for speaker.

Matt Gaetz frustrated that RINOs want to take a week off before electing a new Speaker:

"I was very disappointed that Mr. McHenry said that we won’t be engaging the people’s work until next Tuesday. We should stay, we should work, we should have the Speaker election this week." pic.twitter.com/bWqSkEqWpp
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 3, 2023

In the meantime, since the speakership is now technically vacant, an interim speaker has been selected from a secret list of candidates selected by McCarthy. The man atop that list was Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who will act as the speaker pro tempore until the entire House selects a new speaker.

There are no rules for how long McHenry can remain in that capacity, so his time could be brief, and his temporary position depends on what the members decide. McHenry said following the ouster that “prior to proceeding to the election of a speaker, it would be prudent to first recess for the relative caucus and conferences to meet and discuss the path forward.”

According to NBC News, a speaker election will take place on Oct. 11.

Virginia Allen and Jarrett Stepman contributed to this report.

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.