Republicans Set To Vote On Next House Speaker

Two weeks of Republican disharmony and dysfunction in the U.S. House of Representatives could potentially come to an end Tuesday. For the first time since removing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, the majority GOP conference is expected to hold a floor vote on a potential replacement, Ohio's Jim Jordan.

If Capitol reporters here have learned anything about the inner workings of the Republican conference these past weeks, it's that whatever may look likely, even certain, may not be. But certainly, on Monday, it looked more likely than it did going into the weekend that Rep. Jordan (R-OH) could be the next Speaker.

"I feel real good about it," said Jordan Monday, after spending the weekend in Washington trying to convert some of the 55 members who indicated Friday they would not vote for him on the floor.

It's been an eventful month of October for House Republicans.

In the immediate aftermath of the successful motion to vacate the Speaker's position on October 3, Oklahoma's Kevin Hern (R-OK1) emerged as a potentially viable candidate.

"I am anxiously waiting to hear back from a lot of members that I’ve reached out to," said Hern late that same night.

Congressman Hern took several days to consider throwing his hat in the ring, but In the interest of party unity, ultimately decided to stay out of the race, leaving it between Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan.

Both Scalise (R-LA) and Jordan spent days reaching out to members of the conference before formally making their respective pitches during a closed-door meeting last Wednesday. Following what was described as a 'candidates forum.' a secret ballot vote gave Scalise the slight nod over Jordan 113-99.

But many in the conference were unhappy with the way Scalise supporters worked to table a motion that would have required either man to get 217 votes instead of 111 to earn the conference's nomination. And it became increasingly clear on Thursday that some of those Jordan holdouts had no intention of switching their support to Scalise in a House floor vote.

Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK4) still remained optimistic Scalise would get there: "Look, I think we'll have a nominee, and that nominee will become the speaker, and I think that's Steve Scalise."

But Scalise, seeing no realistic path to 217 votes, dropped out of the race Thursday night, opening the door back up to Jordan, who then narrowly won a second secret ballot Friday over Georgia Congressman Austin Scott. Jordan pressed for another vote to gauge how many Scott supporters would back him if his nomination were brought to the floor. 55 said they would not support him.

"We’ll see what happens," said Hern on Friday. "It’s going to be difficult to get to 217."

But over the weekend into Monday, Jordan met and spoke with many of those opposing him and, according to numerous reports, made significant progress turning no votes into yes votes. He was confident Monday, telling reporters the House needed a Speaker to function, to respond to the needs of Israel, and a floor vote would happen Tuesday.

"We get the House open, and we get to work on the resolution and a supplemental for Israel, and we get back to work for the American people," said Jordan."That's what I'm committed to doing, and I think it's going to happen tomorrow."

The vote is expected to happen Tuesday at noon ET,