Republicans nominate Jim Jordan for speaker though House support for him uncertain

Oct. 13 (UPI) -- House Republicans Friday nominated Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, for speaker.

Jordan got 124 votes, 93 votes short of the 217 he will need to become speaker. Kevin McCarthy, who was speaker until recently, said Friday he now backs Jordan.

A second vote Friday asked GOP members if the would vote for Jordan as speaker on the House floor. That vote was 152-55, still far short of the 217 he needs to take the post.

Georgia Rep. Austin Scott got 81 votes but lost the nomination to Jordan.

Jordan, chair of the Judiciary Committee, is backed by Donald Trump.

Jordan had backed out of contention for speaker when Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., withdrew Thursday after failing to secure the votes he needed.

McCarthy insisted Friday that the GOP conference isn't fractured.

"It's 4% of the conference ... it's 4% of the conference and all the Democrats that want this chaos," McCarthy said.

Scott has been a critic of the eight hard-right Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy as House speaker earlier this month.

Jordan had lost an intra-GOP vote to Scalise to become speaker on Wednesday but Scalise could not get enough Republican votes to win the role on the open House floor. He announced Thursday he was dropping out.

Scott had roundly criticized his eight fellow GOP members who ousted McCarthy from his House speakership, calling them last week "nothing more than grifters who have handed control of the House to the Democratic Party in the name of their own glory and fundraising."

"I don't necessarily want to be the speaker of the House," Scott said. "I want a House that functions correctly, but the House is not functioning correctly right now. I don't know if anyone can get to 217 in our conference."