House may hold third-round speaker vote today, but path to a majority is rocky

The House of Representatives is expected to convene for a third round of votes on Friday as Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, struggles to reach the 217-member threshold needed to win the speaker’s gavel.

House lawmakers got a notice on Thursday evening that no more votes would be expected that day after hours spent in limbo waiting for Jordan to decide if and how to move forward. The notice said the House would convene at 10 a.m. on Friday.

Jordan’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital that the Ohio conservative intends to hold a vote around that time.

Even if he loses again, Jordan ally Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, indicated that Jordan would keep fighting on Saturday and Sunday.

‘We’ve heard from our colleagues and the American people. Additional votes are expected through the weekend,’ Davidson wrote on social media.

Jordan’s path to the speakership remains uncertain — he fell 17 votes short of the necessary number needed to win on Tuesday, and the number increased to 18 during the second round vote on Wednesday.

Late on Thursday afternoon, Jordan met with some of the 20-plus lawmakers opposing his bid for speaker.

They were largely silent when leaving the meeting room. The lawmakers who did speak to reporters indicated their minds were unchanged. 

‘Not trying to change our minds, trying to change his mind. Our mind is set,’ Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., said when asked if the meeting was about getting them to flip. 

House Republicans began the day with a closed-door conference meeting as reports swirled that Jordan did not intend to hold a third-round vote, and instead would support a plan to grant temporary powers to interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., to pass legislation through early January. 

Jordan would have remained speaker-designate for that time being, the reports, which were confirmed to Fox News Digital by two sources, said. 

But conservatives in the conference quickly balked at the plan. Some called it unconstitutional, pointing out that the speaker pro tempore role explicitly only allows them to oversee elections, while others complained it would give Jordan an unfair leg up in the speaker’s race by keeping him as speaker-designate.

Some Republicans emerged from the meeting, which lasted nearly four hours, insisting to reporters that the McHenry proposal was dead in the water. 

‘It’s not going to happen,’ Donalds told reporters. ‘I think that is the decision as I understand it. And I think even Patrick, to his credit and to his fidelity to the U.S. Constitution, we cannot just drop powers in the lap of somebody. We have to elect a speaker.’

Moderates like Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Pa., and Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., insisted the proposal still had legs.

Jordan largely ignored reporters’ questions through the day, including queries on whether he supported empowering McHenry.