'I feel good,' Jim Jordan says about his chances of being elected next House speaker

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio appeared to be gaining momentum in his bid to become speaker of the House on Monday, a day before the House and its fractured Republican majority are set to vote on his nomination.

A handful of key Republican holdouts against the hard-right firebrand indicated they were dropping, or at least softening, their opposition to his candidacy as he made the rounds of one-on-one negotiations throughout the day on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Four of the holdouts -- House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama and Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri, Ken Calvert of California and Vern Buchanan of Florida -- each indicated they had flipped in favor of Jordan, placing him closer to the 217 votes he needs to win the gavel and end an unprecedented and chaotic leadership vacuum left with the ouster of Kevin McCarthy by far-right lawmakers two weeks ago.

Jordan garnered 124 votes during his nomination on Friday, 93 votes short of the necessary number to become speaker. A second vote asked GOP members if they would vote for Jordan as speaker on the House floor. That vote was 152-55, still well short of the 217 needed.

But with the new converts, Jordan said Monday he is whittling down the opposition and announced a vote on his nomination has been scheduled for Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET.

"I think the only way to do this, the way the Founders intended, is you ... have to vote tomorrow," he told CNN, adding, "I feel good about it."

Should he fail to secure the gavel, the GOP majority would be forced to start over and the chamber would remain paralyzed as the nation faced numerous ongoing crises, including the war between Israel and Hamas and another looming possible government shutdown.

The announcement by Rogers in favor of Jordan was hailed by the Ohio lawmaker's backers as especially relevant, given that last week the key committee chairman said he would not support Jordan's bid.

But in a post on X Monday, Rogers announced he had been won over.

Citing "two cordial, thoughtful, and productive conversations over the past two days," Rogers said he and Jordan "agreed on the need for Congress to pass a strong [National Defense Authorization Act], appropriations to fund our government's vital functions, and other important legislation like the Farm Bill."

Hard-line conservatives and the most fervent backers of former President Donald Trump have been Jordan's core constituency -- they were cited as a key factor the decision of Rep. Steve Scalise to withdraw his Speaker nomination last week. But Jordan has been struggling to attract the support of defense hawks such as Rogers and GOP moderates who hail from districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020.

To allay their reservations, Jordan on Monday issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to all House Republicans in which he vowed to include the entire GOP conference in the upcoming decision on funding government operations beyond Nov. 17, when the current continuing resolution expires.

"Our goal will be to empower our committees and committee chairs to take the lead on the House's legislative work through regular order," he wrote. "This will bring us together to pass responsible legislation to fund our government and support our military."