On Thursday morning, Rep. Jim Jordan(R-Ohio) announced that he would not seek a third vote for speaker after losing the first two votes.
He instead backed a plan to empower temporary speaker Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) to conduct the House’s business until January 3.
After a fierce backlash from House conservatives, Jordan reversed himself on Thursday afternoon and said he would force a third vote despite having little prospect of winning.
Jordan lost his first bid after 20 Republicans voted against him, leaving a cloud of uncertainty about who would be the next speaker.
The second vote was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed to Wednesday, Jordan lost that vote by an even greater margin.
The expansion of McHenry’s role as a temporary speaker would be put into place only as a way for Republicans to discuss a plan to find a new speaker.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R- Florida) told reporters that the momentum for McHenry has snowballed.
“If it’s gonna take us a while to get to a speaker, then yeah, we need to give Patrick McHenry some of those powers and allow the House to conduct its business. We don’t want a government shutdown,” he said.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida) said he was open to considering necessary steps to keep the House running.
“We should, at least in the meantime, look for a way to move our agenda forward. That’s a very prudent, smart move,” Diaz-Balart said.
