Updated October 20, 2023 at 2:15pm ET
The House of Representatives still doesn’t have a speaker.
After two failed votes on the House floor, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) suspended his bid for Speaker of the House on Thursday only to re-enter the race on Friday after support failed to materialize for a plan to empower House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) until January. The Ohio congressman’s bid officially came to end on Friday, however, after he lost a third vote and House Republicans chose to remove him as their nominee.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz, authors of Stolen Youth, to discuss the latest developments and why she has not been covering the ongoing speaker saga that closely.
Jordan Is Out
History was made earlier this month when the House of Representatives voted 216 to 210 to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the role of Speaker of the House. A total of eight Republicans joined Democrats to oust McCarthy. McHenry was tapped as speaker pro tempore, a role he will serve in until a new speaker is chosen.
In the aftermath of McCarthy’s ouster, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Jordan emerged as the frontrunners to replace him. Initially, Scalise secured the GOP nomination, narrowly defeating Jordan in a closed-door election 113 to 99 last Wednesday. Several Republican congressmen suggested they would not support Scalise for various reasons, and, by 8pm ET on Thursday, the Majority Leader confirmed that he was dropping his bid.
Republicans held another private meeting last Friday in the wake of Scalise’s decision, where Jordan confirmed he was re-entering the race for speaker. After another closed-door vote, he secured the nomination by a 124 to 81 vote over Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA).
Republicans have 221 votes in the chamber, which means the nominee would need 217 votes in order to win the vote on the House floor. On Wednesday, Jordan scored 200 votes on the first ballot and 199 on the second. While his team implied the congressman intended to keep trying to secure the necessary support, he ultimately reversed course. On Thursday, Jordan canceled the third vote and instead threw his support behind expanding McHenry’s interim powers.
That all changed Thursday night. During a closed-door meeting, Republicans decided against temporarily granting McHenry more responsibility. Jordan re-entered the race, and, during a third floor vote on Friday afternoon, he lost more votes than he had the previous two rounds. The precipitated another secret ballot among the GOP conference, which Jordan lost.
Now without a speaker or a speaker nominee, Scalise told the media Republicans will start from scratch on Monday with a candidate forum scheduled for 6:30pm ET.
‘I Don’t Respect Any of You’
Two weeks without a speaker of the House means there has been two weeks of little to no business getting done in Congress. Mandel noted that is increasingly frustrating and dangerous given the state of the world and called out the selfishness of the House Republicans who have been blocking the vote.
Megyn admitted that she hasn’t time focusing on the ongoing drama because she has lost interest and respect. “I haven’t been covering this much at all because I couldn’t give a sh-t… [and] I don’t respect any of [them],” she concluded. “Get back to me when you have a decision.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Mandel and Markowicz by tuning in to episode 651 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.