Could the House GOP's clumsy attempts at electing a new Speaker of the House finally be coming to an end? And a fruitful end at that?

As RedState's Bob Hoge reported last night, Republicans were on a collision course with the next Speaker vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday. Steve Scalise dropped out of the race last week to shore up support for Jim Jordan, but many House Republicans failed to follow his lead.

Mike Rogers was one notable holdout. As recently as this morning, it was being reported that Rogers was adamantly opposed to Jordan becoming Speaker, and, indeed, was talking with Democrats about teaming up ahead of the vote.

Rogers then, reportedly, went into a closed-door meeting with Democrats and asked Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries what concessions Republicans would need to make in order to strike a deal with Democrats on a new speaker. 

Rogers did not say that he would be open to nominating Jeffries, who would be the Democrats’ choice for speaker, only that he would be open to working with Democrats to find a compromise. In the past, such compromises have included splitting membership of important committees or other process-related concessions. 

Rogers' attempt at saber-rattling got the attention of Jim Jordan, who has somehow brought Rogers back into the fold in his attempt to reach the 217 vote threshold. Rogers took to X (formerly known as Twitter) this morning to declare he is now throwing his support behind Jordan:

Jim Jordan and I have had two cordial, thoughtful, and productive conversations over the past two days. We agreed on the need for Congress to pass a strong NDAA, appropriations to fund our government's vital functions, and other important legislation like the Farm Bill.

As a result, I have decided to support Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House on the floor.

Since I was first elected to the House, I have always been a team player and supported what the majority of the Republican Conference agrees to. Together, our Republican majority will be stronger to fight Joe Biden’s reckless agenda for America.

How much closer this gets Jordan to 217 remains to be seen. Rogers was one of fifty-five Republicans who indicated on Friday that they would not support Jordan when the full House votes this week. And there are reports that some GOP House members will be nominating an as-yet-unnamed challenger when the House convenes tomorrow.

For his part, Jordan welcomed Rogers' support, tweeting: 

Thank you, Chairman Rogers. Your leadership is just what our Conference needs right now.

We must all keep coming together and get back to work. https://t.co/vAgSY1yGi3

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 16, 2023

The ability of Democrats to interfere with the speaker election certainly diminishes with Rogers falling into line behind Jordan, but the rogue element of the GOP caucus looks determined to keep things interesting as the next vote looms. Jordan seems to understand the gravity of having a leaderless House, particularly with the heightened tensions in the Middle East and looks to be making the right moves to shore up support and avoid another frustrating vote.

The next House vote for speaker will take place on Tuesday at noon Eastern time.