After losing three rounds of voting for the top job in the US Parliament, Republican Jim Jordan is out of the race. Jordan announced this on Friday in Washington. The confidant of former US President Donald Trump promised that he would help find another candidate for the presidency of the House of Representatives. US media reported that the Republican faction had previously voted behind closed doors in a secret vote to no longer support Jordan as a candidate for the powerful office.
The search for a successor to the sacked previous chairman of the parliamentary chamber, Kevin McCarthy, is starting again from the beginning. McCarthy was voted out of the post in a historic vote at the beginning of October. Radical Republicans had driven him out of office. It was the first time in US history that a chairman of the House of Representatives lost his job in this way. The office comes third in the United States’ hierarchy after the president and his vice president.
Chaos comes at an inopportune time
The drama among the Republicans in the House of Representatives has largely brought the US Parliament to a political standstill for the time being. Until a new chairman of the chamber is appointed, the legislative work there will largely lie idle – and this in the middle of a time of major international conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East that need the attention of the US Parliament. Among other things, Congress has to decide on further possible aid for Kiev, as well as on a federal budget as a whole. For now, only a transitional budget has been agreed until mid-November, which does not include any support for Ukraine.
Jordan also failed in the third round of voting for the top job on Friday and lost more votes from his own ranks compared to previous attempts. The right-wing hardliner had tried in recent days to win over internal party opponents to his side. Some reported feeling threatened and pressured by Jordan’s supporters.
Republican lawmakers expressed anger and frustration at the chaos in their group after an internal meeting. They promised that a new candidate would be voted on next week. Who that could be is unclear.
