By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chaos in the House continued on Friday as Jim Jordan of Ohio failed for a third time to win election as Speaker, “leaving his party with no consensus on a way forward and the chamber paralyzed in the face of growing pressure to get back to business,” as the New York Times reported it.

“Jordan had pushed ahead with the vote despite clear signs that he would fall short, and the outcome showed that he had actually lost ground,” with 25 Republicans opposing him compared to the 22 who voted against him on his last try on Wednesday. Needing 215 votes to win, he received 194.

Three Republicans from swing districts won by President Biden — Marc Molinaro of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey — abandoned Jordan after supporting him earlier.

What happens next is unclear.

There is no consensus among Republicans about an alternative candidate to Jordan, who has yet to show any inclination to drop out of the race. Hopes have dimmed for a temporary solution that would give Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina, who is acting as speaker pro tempore, the authority to run the House for a few months.

“The ideological and personal divisions that have flared in recent days show no signs of abating.”

The unending discord among the chamber’s Republicans only appeared more consequential as President Biden asked Congress to take up a $105 billion package that would provide security assistance to Ukraine and Israel in the midst of wars there while also giving more money to Taiwan and an infusion of funds to help deter migration across the border with Mexico.

The House has been in a state of chaos for 18 days after hard-right rebels ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The Republican conference’s initial nominee to succeed him, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, failed to muster enough support to move forward. Jordan then received his party’s nomination to be speaker, but he failed to win the post in votes by the full House on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Speaking at a brief news conference at the Capitol before the vote, Jordan, a co-founder of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus (a.k.a. the Dixie Caucus) who has risen to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, emphasized the need for the House to elect a new leader so the chamber could resume its business, including providing assistance to Israel as it responds to the attacks by Hamas.

“We need to get to work for the American people,” he said, adding, “We need to get a speaker as soon as possible.”

Back to Gettysburg?

After Jordan’s second failed attempt to become speaker, Rep. Mike Garcia, a swing-district Republican from California, stepped off the House floor and into the 19th century.

“Clearly, what we’re doing right now is not working,” he told a few reporters on Wednesday as he exited the Speaker’s Lobby. “So we’ve got to get a different approach here.”

Such as?

“It sounds silly, but let’s go to Gettysburg or something,” Garcia proposed, “so that the Republican Party can once again remember why we do what we do.”

“Not silly at all!” joked Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. “What better way for feuding Republicans to hone tactics for their party’s civil war than to go to the site of the bloodiest battle of the real Civil War? They could spend a pleasant day celebrating their ineffectiveness by reenacting Pickett’s Charge.”

Yes, keep fighting that lost cause over and over, you Confederates, and destroy American democracy forever. Or at least the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts took to the House Floor in a symbolic effort to nominate Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House. He has 212 votes. All he needs is 5 Republicans.

“212. It’s a New York area code. And it’s our call for a Speaker of integrity, intelligence, and inclusion,” she said. “212 is our call for a Speaker who will protect our children, our veterans, our planet. 212 is our call for a Speaker who will grow the middle class, lower costs, create good-paying jobs, and make health care affordable. 212 is our call for a Speaker who will secure liberty, justice, and opportunity for everyone.

“Well, the unanimous call of 212 House Democrats has been answered by our nominee for Speaker,” she continued.

The gentleman from Brooklyn. The Leader of our House Democratic Caucus. The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries.

“Leader Jeffries has answered our call. But, the Majority’s nominee is disconnected — disconnected from the American people and their values,” she said. “MAGA extremism is designed to divide, and it has broken the Republican Party. Their nominee’s vision is a direct attack on the freedom and the rights of the American people. And he’s got the record to prove it.”

The Republican nominee has voted against health care for children, for veterans, even for 9/11 survivors. He has opposed lowering the cost of insulin — “repeatedly,” she said.

“He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare. Don’t take it from me,” she said. “It was raised on the other side of the aisle just this week — as a selling point to make him Speaker.

“Over his 16 years in the House, the Republican nominee has never supported a Farm Bill. What does that mean? … It means he has turned his back on farmers, on rural communities, and the 11 million children who go to bed hungry in this country.

“The Republican nominee wants a national abortion ban — with no exception for rape, incest, or the health of a mother,” she said. “We want to make our own health care decisions — in consultation with our families, our doctors, our faith — not with Jim Jordan.”

“The Republican nominee plotted to overturn the 2020 election,” she said. He “traffics in misinformation, and is a true threat to our democracy and our Constitution.”

She’s had the privilege of working in the People’s House for almost 10 years, she said. “And, I’ve gotten to know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. And I know that you hear the same thing that I do: The American people expect us to work together on their behalf. It is not too late for the Majority to choose a bipartisan path forward to reopen the House.

“Take yes for an answer!

“Every day the Majority chooses to engage in a Republican civil war that is threatening their own Members instead of engaging with us in the work of the American people is a day that weakens this institution and the standing of our country,” she continued.

“We need a Speaker who will govern through consensus — not conflict. We need a Speaker worthy of wielding that gavel — a leader who will defend democracy, not degrade it. More than ever, we need proven, patriotic, people-first leadership,” she said. “And that is why I am proud to nominate Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House.”

It may also be a symbolic effort that is doomed to fail. But it certainly gives the American people a contrasting picture to contemplate.

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