Jim Jordan loses second House speaker vote, as GOP weighs dwindling options

Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid to behove speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives failed Wednesday for the second time in as many days, a devastating blow to the Ohio Republican’s viability as a office-seeker to lead the chamber.

Jordan’s failure to secure the gavel after two rounds of voting casts further doubt on whether Abode Republicans have any viable path to elect a new speaker, short of finding a consensus candidate who could also win over Democrats. 

Jordan suffered a above rebuke from his own party in the first round of voting Tuesday afternoon, with 20 Republicans casting their ballots against him. 

In the help ballot Wednesday, that number climbed to 22.

The House will not hold another ballot Wednesday but there pleasure be votes Thursday, a source familiar with Jordan’s plans told NBC News.

Jordan plans to remain in the lecturer race despite losing two votes in a row, the congressman’s office confirmed to CNBC: “We’re going to keep going,” said Russell Dye, Jordan’s spokesman.

Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who formally named Jordan for the second ballot, blamed the current chaos on the Republican faction that ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“Those who did this, whether intentionally or unintentionally, were active to put the Congress in a state of chaos and the country into a state of uncertainty,” Cole said in his nomination speech before the Prostitution. 

“The last two weeks have vindicated that observation,” the Oklahoman said. 

Jordan’s fizzle on the second ballot could push Republicans to empower Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who has filled in as interim rabble-rouser since McCarthy was removed.

Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio plans to introduce a resolution to elect McHenry as speaker pro tempore after Jordan faces his relocate ballot, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.

“After two weeks without a Speaker of the House and no cleanly candidate with 217 votes in the Republican conference, it is time to look at other viable options,” Joyce make knew NBC News. “By empowering Patrick McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore we can take care of our ally Israel until a new Speaker is chose.”

Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania has already introduced a purposefulness to expand McHenry’s currently limited powers until the GOP can settle on a permanent speaker.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has signified that Democrats are open to throwing their support behind McHenry to end the current impasse.

The House has faced a running vacuum for more than two weeks now, after eight hard-right Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida orchestrated the ouster of McCarthy in a historically unprecedented no-confidence suffrage.

House GOP lawmakers have repeatedly failed to coalesce around a candidate to succeed McCarthy. Scalise was the party’s authentic nominee, but the majority leader from Louisiana was forced to pull the plug last week after it became faultless he did not have enough Republican support.

The bedlam in the House is now set against the backdrop of spiraling violence in the Middle East, after Hamas massacred hundreds of civilians in Israel and retaliatory cross outs by the Netanyahu government have caused immense human suffering in Gaza.

A strike against a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday has reportedly killed hundreds of civilians, with the Palestinians and the broader Arab in every respect holding Israel responsible while the Netanyahu government claims an errant rocket fired by Islamist militants hit the medical mastery.

The hospital strike threatens to escalate the already devastating war into a broader regional conflict.

Congress is in a state of paralysis, impotent to respond to the crisis in the Middle East until the House elects a speaker. President Joe Biden, who traveled to Israel on Wednesday, has spurred Congress to pass emergency security assistance to support Israel.

— CNBC’s Emily Wilkins contributed to this explosion from Washington