Jim Jordan’s Candidacy for House Speaker Faces Challenges in First Round Vote

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 2 hours ago, Updated 1 hour ago

Jim Jordan watches the first round of voting for the election of a new Speaker of the House on the floor of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2023. JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS

Rejected during a vote Tuesday evening in the House of Representatives, the elected official from Ohio Jim Jordan can however maintain his candidacy for several rounds, making his accession to the perch still possible.

Still no white smoke: Ohio elected official Jim Jordan, Donald Trump’s lieutenant, failed on Tuesday to be elected head of the House of Representatives in the first round of a crucial election, plunging the institution into crisis.

The fifty-year-old could, however, maintain his candidacy for the position of “speaker» for several turns, which means that it is still possible for him to reach the perch.

Not enough support

The American Congress has two chambers: one, the Senate, is won by Joe Biden’s Democrats, but it is the other, the House of Representatives, in the hands of the Republicans, which has experienced unprecedented chaos for two weeks. This institution no longer has “speaker» since the historic impeachment of Kevin McCarthy on October 3, depriving her of many of her powers, including the adoption of measures in support of Israel or Ukraine.

With a majority in the House and therefore responsible for electing its president, the conservatives have for two weeks been exposing their divisions in broad daylight around the appointment of a successor to Kevin McCarthy. After numerous very sluggish negotiations, the elected representative of Ohio Jim Jordan, very close to Donald Trump and member of the most conservative fringe of the party, is currently the only Republican candidate in the running.

But he failed to win the support of enough of his peers to make it to the perch in a plenary vote in the chamber. Twenty Republican elected officials, mainly moderates who criticize Jim Jordan for positions that are too extreme, voted against his candidacy.

A notable fact pointed out by his detractors: elected to Congress in 2006, Jim Jordan has never succeeded in having the slightest bill adopted in his name. And he is, according to several rankings, considered one of the least productive elected officials in the House. This election could, however, be spread over several days: the “speaker» dismissed Kevin McCarthy had to fight for 15 laps and swallow more than one snake to reach the perch in January. The Republicans want at all costs to avoid reliving this humiliating sequence, captured at the beginning of the year by televisions across the country. So far, in vain.

The Senate mobilizes for Israel

In an institution still marked by the assault on the Capitol, the Democrats denounce the ambiguous position of Jim Jordan on the 2020 presidential election, an election that Donald Trump still describes, without proof, as “stolen“. The elected representatives of Joe Biden’s party, in the minority in the House, all lined up around the candidacy of their leader Hakeem Jeffries, but did not have enough votes to win the presidency either.

The pressure for the House to get back into working order is all the greater as the Senate, the other chamber of Congress, is already preparing a large envelope for Israel. This will contain “military, diplomatic, humanitarian and intelligence aid — all things Israel needs“, declared Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday, hoping to have it adopted”within the next few weeks».

The Senate is also scheduled to consider a resolution condemning Hamas and debate Wednesday the confirmation of a new ambassador to Israel. “As Israel’s closest ally, the United States must lead by example by supporting its actions to defend itself for as long as it takes», insisted its Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.

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2023-10-17 18:18:00


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