House has gaveled into session ahead of pivotal election for speaker

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House of Representatives is set to vote on Jim Jordan’s nomination for speaker on Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after the chamber ousted Kevin McCarthy from the top spot.

Jordan has scrambled to shore up the votes needed to clinch the speakership in the closely divided chamber. He can likely only lose a few GOP votes to win the nod.

What to know

Jim Jordan’s rapid rise has been cheered by Trump and the far right

How the vote for a new speaker works

Scalise ends bid to become speaker as holdouts refuse to back him

McCarthy was an early architect of the GOP majority that became his downfall

Speaker McCarthy ousted in historic House vote

‘Out of one may one emerge’

Members of the House are getting settled in for what is expected to be multiple rounds of votes for speaker.

A handful of Republicans are still opposed to Jordan, but his allies think they will break from their opposition as they go through multiple rounds and come under intense pressure to elect a speaker.

The House chaplain, Margaret Kibben, gave an opening prayer alluding to the upcoming vote. “On this day of choice, give us the vision to see how you have picked each one,” she said. “Out of many may one emerge.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry is presiding over the chamber. He was abruptly appointed as speaker pro tempore last week following the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the top spot.

House is gaveling into session

The House is gaveling into session at noon and beginning with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Then work will get underway on a House speakership vote.

To seize the gavel, Jordan will need almost the full majority of his colleagues behind him in a House floor vote, as Democrats are certain to back their own nominee, Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

With the House Republican majority narrowly held at 221-212, he can only afford to lose a few votes to reach the 217 majority threshold, if there are no absences. While eight hard-right ousted McCarthy, the holdouts this time range from seasoned legislators worried about governing, to newer lawmakers from swing districts whose voters prefer Biden to Trump.

Trump says Jordan will be ‘GREAT Speaker’

Donald Trump is reupping his support of his top ally in the House ahead of the vote for speaker.

“Jim Jordan will be a GREAT Speaker of the House,” the former president said on social media.

Trump also reiterated his backing of Jordan while appearing Tuesday morning at his civil fraud trial in New York. Trump described the 59-year-old Jordan as “a fantastic young man” who “loves our country.”

He said he thinks Jordan will have the votes soon, if not Tuesday.

Trump had been an early backer of Jordan and worked against the Republicans’ first nominee to be speaker, Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Trump wrote, “As everyone knows, I have long ago given him my Complete and Total Endorsement!”

Jordan feeling confident heading into vote

Jordan says he’s been picking up support every day and feels good ahead of the vote for House speaker.

“I feel confident,” he said Tuesday while trailed by a scrum of reporters in the Capitol.

When asked if he thought it would take many rounds for him to become speaker, he said he is in the race for the long haul. “Whatever it takes,” he said.

Jordan was spotted heading into the speaker’s office, about a half hour before the vote was expected to start.Meanwhile, in the Senate …

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the chamber will move quickly to respond to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas despite the House remaining in limbo.

“With the House in disarray, the Senate will not wait to vote on an Israeli aid package,” the New York Democrat said on the floor. “We can’t wait for the House. Who knows what will happen there?”

Concerns over Jordan’s lack of legislative chops

While Jordan has made a reputation as a chaos agent in his time in Congress, the Ohio Republican, unlike previous speaker candidates, has no real legislative chops.

In his 16 years in Washington, not a single bill bearing Jordan’s name has been signed into law.

Instead, he has spent his time in Congress fighting to get retribution for his political allies, to kill legislation and eventually to maneuver his way to becoming the top Republican on some of the chamber’s most powerful committees.

His lack of legislative experience has been a criticism that moderates and Democrats have deployed against him in recent days. But his office has pushed back, saying he has been instrumental in getting legislation through the committees he serves on without putting his name on it.

A once-unimaginable House speaker

Jordan’s journey to the cusp of House speakership would have once seemed far-fetched.

He was the founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative hardliners who pressured House Speaker John Boehner to step aside in 2015. Boehner famously called him a “legislative terrorist.”

Should Jordan succeed, it would help cement the far right’s takeover of the Republican Party and trigger fresh conflict with Democrats over the size and scope of government.

But a Jordan speakership would also come with baggage that could present a challenge to Republicans as they labor to hold their House majority in next year’s election, an effort that will likely hinge on drawing support from moderate voters in swing districts.

Jordan clinches support of Biden-district Republican

Hours before a floor vote, one of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s most loyal supporters threw his support behind Jordan after days of hesitation.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., a first-term member, said that after having several conversations with Jordan, he’s decided to vote for him on the floor.

“There’s too much at stake to continue to be stalled,” he posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “I came to D.C. to work—not sit around.”

Ciscomani was one of at least a dozen Republicans who had yet to throw their support behind Jordan. He represents a district won by Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Are we looking at 15 rounds of voting again?

It’s unlikely.

House Republicans are exhausted by weeks of infighting over who will lead the conference and frustrated by the inability of the chamber to pass legislation, particularly in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Jordan’s supporters are confident that the public floor vote will force the remaining holdouts to flip their way. Kevin McCarthy narrowly won the speakership in January on the 15th round of balloting, after five excruciating days.

Showdown for the gavel

Republicans are gearing up for another attempt at seating a House speaker, hoping to elevate a chief ally of Donald Trump’s to a center seat of U.S. power.

The House is scheduled to start voting at noon in what could become a showdown for the gavel. At least a handful of holdout Republicans are refusing to give Jordan their votes, viewing the Ohio Republican as too extreme to be second in line to the presidency.

But with public pressure bearing down on lawmakers from Trump’s allies including conservative TV hosts, it’s unclear how long the holdouts can last.