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.