Since being fired from his job as House speaker, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy had kept his options open. He remained willing to endorse either an insurgent or a longtime leader, and he even refused to rule out a return.
However, McCarthy has just made a surprising decision: He endorsed Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan for House speaker.
“I support Jim Jordan fully, Jim was a great ally to me. He worked hard,” McCarthy told radio star John Catsimatidis on the “Cats and Cosby” radio show. “We came into Congress together.”
McCarthy made the remark on the same day as the House GOP’s second vote by secret ballot.
Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and co-founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus, lost the first ballot to Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise on Thursday. The House Republicans voted 113-99 to nominate Scalise for the speakership, but Scalise withdrew shortly after winning the nomination.
On Friday, the House Republicans held a second round of voting, and Jordan emerged victorious. By a margin of 152-55, the Ohio Republican beat a last-minute challenge by Georgia Rep. Austin Scott.
Scott blamed Jordan for enabling Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Freedom Caucus member, to oust McCarthy. “If we’re going to be the majority party, we have to act like the majority party,” Scott, a former president of the “Tea Party” freshmen class of 2011, said last week.
At least two Republicans have publicly committed to voting against Jordan — and some are talking to Democratic Party leaders about a power sharing deal.
Scalise has also declined to throw his support behind Jordan. “It’s got to be people that aren’t doing it for themselves,” the Louisiana Republican said late Thursday.
However, McCarthy remains optimistic about Jordan’s potential to convert the skeptics.
“We’ve got some people not there yet,” McCarthy reportedly said on the radio show. “We just get together, work a little longer and we can have a new Speaker in Jim Jordan next week.”
Even before the second ballot, McCarthy had spoken positively of Jordan.
“I think Jordan would do a great job,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said ahead of the vote. “We got to get this back on track.”
Jordan has even nabbed an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. “I feel real good,” Jordan said before a morning meeting on Friday.
The House is set to reconvene Monday after the weekend. The chamber will be entering its second week without a speaker.
With the House narrowly split 221-212, with two vacancies, any nominee can lose just a few Republicans before failing to reach the 217 majority needed in the face of opposition from Democrats, who will most certainly back their own leader, Jeffries. Absences could lower the majority threshold.
Some Republicans proposed simply giving the Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry more power to lead the House.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.