Jim Jordan wins nomination in House speaker election, defeating late challenger Austin Scott
Politics,US House,Republican Party,Jim Jordan,Steve Scalise,Hakeem Jeffries,Polarization,US Congress
House Republicans, befallen by disorder and infighting, nominated Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., for speaker after an internal secret ballot vote behind closed-doors Friday, marking another step towards electing a new leader as the lower chamber is in its 10th day without a speaker.
Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chair, defeated Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., who made a surprise entrance into the speaker’s race hours earlier as an anti-Jordan alternative.
The conference’s nomination however, is just a formal endorsement from the majority of GOP lawmakers. For Jordan to become speaker, he will still have to rally an overwhelming majority of House Republicans behind him to win a vote on the floor with 217 votes, the magic number needed to get the top job.
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