House reaches Day 10 without a speaker as Republicans nominate Jim Jordan

After being defeated by Jordan, Scott called on his Republican colleagues to unite behind the Ohio congressman.

"I highly respect Jim Jordan. He is an asset to the Republican Party and our nominee for Speaker," Scott said in a post on X. "Our conference has spoken, and now we must unite behind Jordan so we can get Congress back to work."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Jordan after Republicans nominated him to be the next speaker.

Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Jordan "the chairman of the chaos caucus, a defender in a dangerous way of dysfunction, and an extremist extraordinaire.”

“House Republicans now have a choice," he said, adding that there "are only two paths forward.

"On the one hand, House Republicans continue to triple down on the chaos, the dysfunction and the extremism that has been visited upon the American people as a result of the House Republicans civil war," Jeffries said. "On the other hand, traditional Republicans can break away from the extremism, partner with Democrats on an enlightened bipartisan path forward so we can end the recklessness and get back to doing the business of the American people.”

Members have been advised “that no votes are expected in the House until approximately 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 16,” according to an email obtained by NBC News from Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office.

After Jordan showed he was over 50 votes from where he needs to be in the second vote, McCarthy got up to speak in support of the Ohio congressman who's trying for his old job, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told reporters.

McCarthy predicted Jordan would be the next speaker, Meuser said.

McCarthy said he doesn't think Jordan should be deterred that he only got 152 votes on the second ballot measuring his support.

"I don't see a problem with him now getting that," McCarthy said. "I think that people have been here a long time. We've now elected a speaker designee. I think people go home be with their family and come back."

Multiple GOP lawmakers said today that the goal is to hold a House floor vote on Tuesday for the next speaker.

On a second vote gauging whether members would support Jordan on the House floor, the vote tally was 152 yes, 55 no and 1 present, according to Rep. French Hill and confirmed by an aide.

That means Jordan increased his support by 28 members compared with the first vote in which he defeated Scott in a 124-81 vote.

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, told reporters outside the meeting that Republicans are headed home for the weekend and will resume trying to elect a speaker on Monday.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told reporters Republicans are holding a second vote to see how much support Jordan would get on the floor.

He predicted there would be far fewer "protest" votes in the second vote. "I bet you there's going to be hardly any," Perry said.

Rep. Austin Scott got 81 votes for speaker, sources confirmed.

Scott, of Georgia, is a low-profile member of Congress elected in 2010 and has not held a leadership role before.

House Republicans voted behind closed doors to nominate Jordan to be the next speaker, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said on X.

Jordan won 124-81.

The Republicans have started voting behind closed doors for a second nominee for speaker. Their first nominee, Steve Scalise, withdrew after he couldn't get enough support for a floor vote.

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., started screaming about a protester outside of the GOP meeting. Police then arrested the protester.

"The fact that we have terrorist sympathizer in this building is unacceptable! They should not be allowed in here!" he yelled after telling Capitol police the protester, a Jewish American who opposes Israeli government policies, had accosted him earlier while holding "a child."

"What’s happening in Israel is abhorrent — that’s what it is," Santos said.

Santos had previously acknowledged his claim of being a “proud American Jew” during his campaign was exaggerated, telling the New York Post “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

In a statement, U.S. Capitol Police said they "arrested 36 year-old Shabd Khalsa and charged him with simple assault after an officer witnessed him have physical contact with a Congressional Staffer in the Longworth Building. The USCP will continue to investigate.”

After Rep. Austin Scott declared his candidacy, Rep. Mike Collins quipped, "If we all get a chance to be voted on as speaker, are we going alphabetically or by class? Trying to plan Thanksgiving travel."

Republicans are aiming for a 3:15 p.m. vote on who the party will nominate for speaker.

Some Republicans are pushing for a floor vote immediately afterward, but that remains an uncertainty.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., exited at about 2 p.m. and said they were still doing process stuff and probably wouldn’t vote for another hour.

When asked about Rep. Scott declaring his candidacy for speaker, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, "Everybody's got a right to run but I think Jim's better prepared in the process to be speaker."

Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., told his colleagues he would vote for Jordan on the floor if Jordan is the nominee rather than him, according to Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, a Jordan and McCarthy ally.

Ahead of the GOP meeting, Rep. Anthony Esposito, R-N.Y., expressed concern that no candidate would be able to secure enough support to win.

“I think that there are a lot of questions that members have. I think people are frustrated. People are angry. There could be a time that we come together and unify,” he said. “I’m just not sure if members are there yet. And I certainly am not sure we’re near" any candidate securing a majority of the caucus' support.

Jordan allies Reps. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Nicole Malliotakis of New York will nominate him for speaker, a source familiar said.

Scott told reporters ahead of the meeting, "I don't necessarily want to be speaker of the house. I want a house that functions correctly."

"The house is not functioning correctly right now," he added.

Democratic leaders emailed members today telling them not to leave Washington, as a vote for speaker could occur as early as this afternoon.

Some context on Scott: The Georgia congressman signed a Jan. 5, 2021, letter from 12 GOP House members saying that Congress should not and could not object to electoral college results.

"The text of the Constitution is clear," said the letter. "States select electors. Congress does not. Accordingly, our path forward is also clear. We must respect the states’ authority here. Though doing so may frustrate our immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals. We must count the electoral votes submitted by the states."

Jordan, a Trump ally, was supportive of efforts to upend the 2020 election.

Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia is jumping into the speaker race, he wrote on X.

He is the only confirmed candidate besides Jordan.

In a post on X, Rep. Keith Self, suggested that the absense of several Republican members from the GOP meeting today was an effort to block a vote on Jordan.

He wrote that the members "absence guarantees that we will not have a vote this weekend on Jim Jordan." He went on to ask "Is this a mere coincidence?"

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., offered this assessment on the current state of the speaker race: “The French have a word for it ... clusterf---.”

While Republicans gear up for another round of closed-door voting for a speaker nominee, it may not be possible for them to hold a floor vote today.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say some members have already left town. Leaving this morning’s meeting, several Republicans confirmed there were only 209 of the 221 members of the House GOP in attendance. That may make getting to a majority even harder.

And heading to the floor with only 209 Republicans brings some risks — if Democratic absences are only a few, the chamber could end up with a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is backing Jordan, told reporters that she is pushing for a straw vote to happen immediately following today's meeting.

"I've also told everyone, once that happens, we should go home and come back and have a speaker election either on Monday or Tuesday morning," she added.

Rep. Tom Cole, of Oklahoma, brushed off questions about whether he could be nominated for speaker.

"Nobody's that dumb," he said.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., confirms candidates have until noon today to announce they are running for speaker.

The House of Representatives has been without a speaker for more than a week, leaving one of America’s branches of government effectively paralyzed as crises and a government shutdown loom.  

This is the longest that Congress has been rudderless since 1971, when it took 18 days to elect a speaker.

NBC News is tracking the hours, minutes and seconds since Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the position.

Read the full story, How long has the House been without a speaker?

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a powerful appropriator, called Jordan “straightforward” but expressed concerns about his ability to lead a very narrow majority, pointing to the fact that he could not flip votes in favor of Scalise after Jordan endorsed his one-time opponent.

“If you can’t get your closest friends, your closest supporters on an election issue to follow you ... it begs the question of can you do anything and can you get anybody to follow you on really difficult issues,” Diaz-Balart said Friday.

The House will hold a candidate forum at 1 p.m. So far, Jim Jordan is the only candidate running, but others could jump in before then.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, endorsed Jordan for speaker this morning.

"I believe Jim Jordan is the person who should lead us. The House Republican Majority is the last best chance to stop Biden and the anti-American liberals who are dragging this country down. We must unite behind one leader with the integrity, the ability and the vision to lead us. I believe Jim Jordan is that leader and I ask my colleagues to join me now," he said in a statement.

Hudson also said in his statement that he believes removing McCarthy was a mistake and that the conference's "inability to rally behind Steve Scalise is a win for the forces that threaten the country."

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said on Friday that he is re-entering the race for speaker, just a day after the GOP’s nominee, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, dropped his bid for the top job after failing to lock up enough support.

Jordan, a Donald Trump loyalist who has burnished a reputation on the Hill as a conservative bomb-thrower, could still meet the same fate as Scalise. Because of the party’s razor-thin majority, just five GOP detractors can block Jordan in a House floor vote, and a handful of moderate Republicans have already said they won’t cast their vote for Jordan.

They include Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri, Austin Scott of Georgia, and Don Bacon of Nebraska.

Many Republicans are now looking to Jordan because he was the only challenger to Scalise, losing just two days ago in a narrow, internal 113-99 vote. Supporters point to his conservative credentials — he chaired both the Republican Study Committee and far-right House Freedom Caucus — and also that he has aligned himself with the GOP leadership team more in recent years.

Read the full story here.

What are Republicans doing behind closed doors now that their speaker nominee has dropped out? Talking about the rules.

There are four rules proposals being considered. These are rules that pertain to how the House Republicans run themselves.

And its still unclear whether McHenry could decide to hold another vote this morning for a speaker nominee.

McCarthy didn't respond to reporters' questions on Friday morning when asked if he is ruling out running for House speaker again.

The House Republicans are filing into a room in the Longworth office building.

The House stands in recess after interim Speaker Patrick McHenry opened the floor back up briefly. 

There were a dozen Democrats on the floor and Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democratic on the Rules Committee, tried to gain recognition but McHenry hit gavel to recess.

Rep. Dan Meuser said in an interview with Newsmax that he is proposing a Scalise-Jordan "leadership team," where one is the speaker and the other is the majority leader "to unite our party, to unite our country."

The Pennsylvania Republican said the conference will likely hold a straw poll on the matter today and possibly a full floor vote.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., is pushing a plan that would reinstate Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

In a letter to his colleagues last night, McClintock said, "ENOUGH!" He urged the House GOP to "start acting as a majority again" and "condemn the House vote that removed" McCarthy.

"Our conference never voted to oust our Speaker. Eight of our 'morally superior' colleagues made that decision for us," said the letter, which calls for re-nominating McCarthy after condemning the vote to remove him. They'd then keep voting for McCarthy "until enough of our wayward colleagues return to the fold," he wrote.

McCarthy has said he does not plan on running for speaker again, and the eight Republicans who voted against him have shown no inclination to change their votes, but the idea was endorsed by Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who posted a copy of McClintock's letter on X.

"I agree," Gimenez wrote, calling on GOP colleagues to "condemn this despicable coup."

Scalise, R-La., informed Republicans in a closed-door meeting last night that he was dropping his bid to be House speaker, one day after he captured the GOP’s nomination for the top job.

Moments later, Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in leadership, confirmed the news to reporters outside the room.

“I just shared with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as candidate for the speaker designee,” he said.

“Our conference still has to come together and is not there. There are still some people that have their own agendas,” he said. “This House of Representatives needs a speaker, and we need to open up the House again. But clearly, not everybody is there. And there’re still schisms that have to get resolved.”

Read the full story here.