The drama to select a new speaker for the House of Representatives took a couple of turns Thursday, beginning with U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) initially appearing to yield in his quest for the gave in support of U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry as interim speaker until January, only to reverse course after Republicans held a heated, 3½-hour closed-door meeting.
After announcing that the GOP caucus “decided that wasn’t where we’re going to go,” Jordan declared: “I’m still running for speaker, and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race.”
Jordan will endure a third vote as early as Friday after failing to gain the needed 217 votes in the first two votes held this week, and adding to the intrigue there is talk of moderate Republicans mulling the possibility of working with Democrats to select Liz Cheney as the next speaker. Or Mitt Romney.
National File reporter Charles Downs tweeted: “Jamie Raskin says Democrats are considering nominating Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney for Speaker of the House. It seems the 20 Republicans against Jordan are conspiring with Democrats to plant a UniParty Speaker.”
He included a MSNBC interview of U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) talking about the possibility of such a “power-sharing arrangement.”
Jamie Raskin says Democrats are considering nominating Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney for Speaker of the House. It seems the 20 Republicans against Jordan are conspiring with Democrats to plant a UniParty Speaker.
pic.twitter.com/sydyO80NED— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) October 18, 2023
Other Republican lawmakers were concerned about members of their caucus working with Democrats — it would only take 5 defectors to select a speaker:
Reps Massie and Davidson confirm “moderate” House Republicans are working with Hakeem Jeffries to install a Speaker the uniparty controls. This as Jamie Raskin says House Democrats could nominate Liz Cheney to be Speaker. The swamp is getting much swampier. pic.twitter.com/W5iU8FgJR4
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) October 18, 2023
A small number of DC establishment Republicans, often referred to as “Republicans in name only” (RINO), have refused to back Jordan. A key concern is that as speaker Jordan may not go along with the continued funding of Ukraine in its war against Russia. Democrats, the new war hawks on Capitol Hill, are all in on keeping the money spigot open.
In a video Downs shared on X, he asked U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) if Democrats were working with U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-IL) to select a Democratic speaker. The attention-loving Democrat who fell for a CCP honeytrap had nothing to say, as seen here:
Outside the Speaker of the House Vote, Eric Swalwell didn’t deny that House Democrats were working with Don Bacon to select a Democrat Speaker. pic.twitter.com/aYb8CSKdz0
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) October 17, 2023
Bacon is one of the Republicans refusing to support Jordan. He is holding out in the hopes of U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) regaining the speaker’s gavel.