Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Friday morning signaled that he will not drop out of the race to become the next speaker of the House despite failing twice to get elected, with a third ballot now expected to take place.
After 22 GOP colleagues and every Democrat voted against him on Wednesday, Jordan said at a press conference that the deadlock needs to end. “The quickest way to get all this working is to get a speaker elected,” he said. “That’s what I’m hoping we can do today.”
With no speaker in place following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, the House has been plunged into chaos in an unprecedented crisis which has now dragged on for 17 days. “We need to get to work for the American people,” Jordan said. “We need to do what we said we were going to do, we need to do what we told them we were going to do when they elected us and put us in office, and frankly, we can’t do that if the House isn’t open. We can’t open the House until we get a speaker.”