WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Right-wing Republican Jim Jordan, chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, lost the third vote in his bid for the U.S. House speaker on Friday, as Republican opposition grows amid continuing chaos.
Jordan lost 25 votes from fellow Republicans on Friday, three more than in the second round of voting and five more than in the first round, indicating moderates' growing doubts about a hardline conservative House speaker.
With a slim 221-212 Republican majority in the chamber, Jordan could only afford to lose a few votes from Republicans in order to reach the majority threshold and win the gavel, considering that all Democrats voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The stalemate has prompted some lawmakers to push for the empowerment of Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, in hope that he can oversee the passage of urgently needed legislation until House Republicans can coalesce and elect a new leader. In the third vote, several Republican defections voted for McHenry.
The House has been leaderless for over two weeks, after Kevin McCarthy was unprecedentedly removed from his position on Oct. 3, in a move initiated by a conservative member of his own party.
The House can't move forward on its legislative process until a speaker is chosen, and lawmakers need to pass a spending bill before government funding runs out in mid-November. The House is also under pressure to take action amid the escalating Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
But the latest chaos shows that moderates and right-wing conservatives within the Republican Party are far from reaching an agreement on the way forward.
Jordan, co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is considered a far-right figure within the Republican Party, and has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The Ohio Republican advocates for deep spending cuts, enhanced border security, and has been a prominent player in the impeachment investigation opened against President Joe Biden.
Among the Republican defections, several voted for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who previously won the Republican speakership nomination but failed to garner enough votes and dropped out of the race. A few voted for former speaker McCarthy, Lee Zeldin -- who is no longer in Congress -- and others.
Pressure campaign unleashed on Republican holdouts by Jordan's allies has prompted criticism. "Threats and intimidation tactics will not change my principles and values," Republican Congresswoman Jen Kiggans wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Kiggans voted for McCarthy in the first two rounds of voting, and voted for McHenry in the third round.
"If Jordan becomes speaker, it will signal Republicans putting a hardliner in charge of the House and someone who is used to confrontational politics. A number of Republican House members seem to have doubts about having a far-right member in charge," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua earlier.
