Jim Jordan loses first vote for House speaker amid GOP defections

Conservative Republican Rep. Jim Jordan fell significantly short of winning the House speaker's gavel on a first ballot Tuesday, leaving the House in paralysis after 20 Republicans opposed the Ohio Republican.

The vote, in which Jordan failed to secure a majority of the full House, was a disappointment for Jordan's allies who had expressed hopes that the number of holdouts would be in the single digits.

Immediately after the vote, the House went into recess, giving Jordan time to try to convince his opponents - a group of GOP moderates and allies of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise - to change their votes.

Jordan had initially considered holding a second vote on Tuesday, but he told reporters that the next speaker vote would be at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

The 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan included House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger of Texas, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and a quartet of New York Republicans in purple districts. The anti-Jordan contingent cast six votes for McCarthy, seven votes for Scalise and three for former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, among other alternatives.

It's now been two weeks of high-stakes chaos over the speaker's gavel following the unprecedented ouster of McCarthy. The House's slim margin is what led to McCarthy's removal at the hands of a band of eight GOP rebels - and now a similarly sized group of House Republicans could block Jordan's ascension, too.

Jordan's opponents include centrist Republicans concerned that the face of the House GOP would be a conservative hardliner, as well as lawmakers still furious at the small group of Republicans who forced out McCarthy and then opposed the speaker nomination of Scalise, who initially defeated Jordan inside the GOP conference, 113 to 99.

After the first vote, the House recessed and Jordan shuffled between the speaker's office and the majority whip's office holding meetings.

"We're making progress. I feel good about it. We're going to keep going," Jordan said Tuesday afternoon. "I had great conversations, great discussions with our colleagues."

One of Jordan's meetings was with Scalise. Before the first vote, Jordan asked the majority leader to give him a nominating speech on the floor, and a source told CNN Scalise wouldn't commit to doing so. A Scalise spokeswoman said he has been supportive of Jordan throughout the process.

In January, 19 Republicans initially voted against McCarthy for speaker, before he eventually won a majority and the gavel after 15 votes. Jordan hasn't signaled how long he plans to take his push to become speaker.

Several Jordan holdouts expressed openness to switching their votes, and one said he would support the Ohio Republican on the next ballot. But several Jordan opponents said they would not be swayed - and GOP sources say the opposition could grow because some members only committed to backing him on the first ballot.

Jordan and his allies felt they had made significant headway over the past several days, with the Ohio Republican pitching skeptical lawmakers one on one - and his allies outside Congress attacking the holdouts and threatening political consequences if they stand against a favorite of the Trump-aligned GOP base.

Until the House selects a speaker, the chamber is in a paralysis, unable to consider legislation, such as passing additional military aid to Israel or government funding - with the threat of a shutdown now one month away thanks to McCarthy's six-week stopgap spending deal that prompted the move against him.

If another vote is held, at least one of Jordan's opponents said he would flip: GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California, a longtime McCarthy ally who voted for McCarthy on the first ballot, told reporters he will vote for Jordan on the second ballot.

"I'm not against him," LaMalfa said of Jordan. "I was for Kevin McCarthy the whole time and I thought the process has been terrible, what has happened to him and the things that he's been held up for. So I'm voting for Jim Jordan because he's a good guy. He's done good work on committee. And we need to move forward with this place today, and get our work done."

Rep. John James of Michigan, who voted for Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole for speaker, said he would be open to supporting Jordan in future rounds of voting and that he planned to speak with him later.

"I'm talking with Jim Jordan right now and we're going to work it out," James said.

But multiple Republicans said they cannot be moved. In the aftermath of the initial vote, several Jordan opponents called for the House to immediately hold another floor vote for speaker.

GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, who voted for McCarthy, said he will never vote for Jordan but would consider voting for other candidates.

"I'm not going to be part of a coup," Gimenez said.

Rep. John Rutherford of Florida also indicated he would stick with Scalise going forward and believes the party should find a "consensus" candidate, such as interim Speaker Patrick McHenry.

"I think now we're gonna have to find a consensus candidate," he said, adding: "I kind of like Patrick McHenry."

Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said Monday that he would oppose Jordan because he "can't get past the fact that a small group in our conference violated the rules to get rid of Kevin, and then blocked Steve."

A group of centrist New York Republicans - a key bloc of lawmakers in the House, who helped hand the GOP the majority - privately discussed their vote for speaker for weeks, conferring with one another and weighing the idea of voting as a bloc, sources told CNN.

As they wrestled with whether to back Jordan, one thing that came up repeatedly and gave them pause: Jordan's votes against key priorities in New York, including voting against aid for superstorm Sandy and against 9/11 health care funding for first responders.

But they didn't make a final decision on how they would vote until Tuesday morning, sources said. Four voted against Jordan.

House Democrats, meanwhile, all voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who got more votes than Jordan for speaker, 212 to 200.

Jeffries told reporters Tuesday that Democrats were "ready, willing and able" to have a conversation with Republicans about a compromise candidate as the impasse dragged on.

"Ongoing conversations have intensified over the last few days. And it's our hope that the fever will finally break that traditional Republicans will say enough of the chaos dysfunction and extremism and we can partner together to reopen the government and get the people's business done," Jeffries said.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House Democratic whip, suggested that one option could be the interim speaker, Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican.

"People are talking to one another. We've had a House that's now been shut down by the extreme wing of their party," Hoyer said. "One option is we vote for a speaker that we think would be responsible and effective. We have an acting speaker that I think wants to be responsible. So, there are a lot of options."

Jordan, however, dismissed the notion of a compromise over the speakership.

"No one in our conference wants to see any type of coalition government with Democrats," he said. "We've gotta have a speaker, and it can't be some deal with the Democrats. The American people don't want that. They elected Republicans in a majority."

Democrats bashed the prospect of Jordan becoming speaker after objecting to the 2020 election result and ignoring the January 6 committee's subpoena in the last Congress.

"Obviously, we uncovered a lot of information about Mr. Jordan and January 6 and he did not present himself when we offered a subpoena. And so for someone of his ilk to be considered for speaker Is a concern," Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chaired the House January 6 committee. "I'm glad he lost - the country is better off because of it."

Jordan's supporters, however, still believe he can convince enough opponents to come around, pointing to the several key votes Jordan won on Monday, including House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama and Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, who had previously called Jordan a "nonstarter."

"If we can whittle it down to 10 in a hurry, and then get there - I think it's more likely we do than we don't," Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania said of the Jordan opponents. "On the same note, we've got to be prepared on what's next."

Jordan's backers have urged the conference to unify around him. Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania argued that those angry at what's happened over the past two weeks shouldn't take it out on Jordan, because he supported both McCarthy and Scalise.

"Feelings are hurt," Perry said. "But Jim didn't have anything to do with that. So they need to assign their ire, if you will, to those who they think deserve it - but certainly not Jim Jordan."

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNN's Lauren Fox, Kristin Wilson, Morgan Rimmer, Clare Foran and Sam Fossum contributed to this report.