On Friday afternoon, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) was nominated to be the Republican candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives. This vote was between Jordan and Austin Scott (R-GA).

House Republicans selected a new candidate for speaker on Friday after days of disarray kicked off by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster from the job.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was nominated for the position in a closed-door House GOP conference earlier Friday. The next step is a House-wide vote, where he will not be able to lose more than four Republican votes to still win the gavel without Democratic support.

Republicans hastily scheduled a candidate forum to pick their new leader on Friday afternoon after multiple measures aimed at raising the threshold to nominate someone failed. 

The House of Representatives has been without a Speaker since the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. In an earlier vote, Speaker candidate and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) won the nomination but then failed to secure enough votes to guarantee a majority on the House floor, ultimately resulting in his decision to withdraw from the race. 

Jordan won the vote against Scott by a margin of 124-81, meaning that not all lawmakers were present for the vote.

Jordan came out on top 124-81. He needs a simple majority, which is currently 217, on the House floor to become speaker.

Some lawmakers are not present at the U.S. Capitol given that votes are frozen until a speaker is elected. The conference is now holding a test vote to find out how much support Jordan will have from Republican members on the House floor. It is unclear if a floor vote will be scheduled for Friday evening.

The next steps in the process are a general vote of the House of Representatives. Jordan needs a simple majority to win the election to be the next Speaker, but the GOP majority in the House is very thin; any GOP candidate will require a near-unanimous vote of Republicans to emerge victorious.

As of this writing, the House of Representatives has adjourned; no further votes will be taken today. As of this writing, the final vote has not been scheduled.

House is going home. No Speaker vote tonight. Second vote to back Jordan on the floor was 152-55-1.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 13, 2023

Jim Jordan has represented Ohio's 4th Congressional District since 2007, having won his seat in the 2006 elections during the second term of President George W. Bush and in the midst of a generally poor performance by the GOP. He is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and was the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee in 2019 and  2020. He moved from that position to take the role of ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and became chair of that committee when the Republicans assumed the House majority in 2023. Jordan is also considered to be an ally of former President Donald Trump.

Jim Jordan was born in Troy, Ohio, and raised in Champaign County. He has a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin/Madison, where he also competed as a wrestler, winning two NCAA Division 1 championships. 

Congressman Jordan has a 100% rating from the American Conservative Union.