Jim Jordan of the Republican Party lost the first voting ballot for the post of speaker in the US House of Parliament. Another voting is on Wednesday.
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The US House of Parliament fails to elect the speaker in its first ballot. The Republican Party’s member, Jim Jordan, lost the first voting ballot. With this loss, another voting ballot will be conducted today (Wednesday) to elect a new speaker. Jordan has scheduled another voting ballot for the speaker on Wednesday, 18.
After removing Republican Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, the US House of Parliament has yet to elect a new speaker. On October 3rd, Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker by a rebellion in his house of Republicans. His removal as a speaker was the first in the 234-year history of US speakers of Parliament.
Here’s how Jim Jordan lost the voting ballot:
After the conclusion of the first US House speaker, the Ohio-based conservative Rep. Jim Jordan fell shy of the votes needed to be elected as a new speaker. Jordan has some work to do as 20 members of his party (Republican) wanted someone other than him as a speaker and so voted against him.
Of the 435 members of the US House of Parliament, only 427 cast votes due to vacancies or absentees. 217 votes were needed for Jordan to win the ballot, of which he won 200 and fell short of 17 votes. In some ways, his Republican Party members who voted against him were influential in Jordan losing the first voting ballot.
The Republicans who voted against Jordan cast six votes for McCarthy, seven votes for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and three for former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, among others. The list of 20 Republicans voting against Jordan includes Kay Granger of Texas, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, and some New York Republicans.
The same thing happened with the now-removed Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, at the time of his removal. McCarthy was removed from the position due to a brutal rebellion among the House of Republicans. Eight Republicans had voted for McCarthy to leave the speaker chair, and now twenty Republicans have voted against Jordan to be a speaker.
What’s next?
After the results and conclusion of the voting ballot, the house is in recess. In parliament, recess refers to a short break or intermission in a meeting of an assembly. The Parliament is trying to figure out what to do next. It was decided that the next vote for the post of speaker would be today (Wednesday).
After the voting, Jordan said on Tuesday afternoon, “We’re making progress. I feel good about it. We’re going to keep going.” He also added, “I had great conversations, great discussions with our colleagues.” Will Jordan get enough votes to be elected as a speaker? That needs to be seen on Wednesday.
Even if by some chance his Republican Party members again vote against him and he loses again, it should be remembered that this year in January, the Republicans also voted against Kevin McCarthy for speaker before he eventually won with a majority. McCarthy had contested 15 rounds in four days for the position of speaker.
The US House of Parliament needs to elect a new speaker soon. It has been at least 15 days since Kevin McCarthy was removed as a speaker, and the position has been vacant since. The vacant seat of the speaker is hurting the parliament as almost all the business of the house has been on hold.