The group included vulnerable Republicans from districts that President Biden won in 2020 and congressional institutionalists worried that Representative Jim Jordan would demand extreme spending cuts.
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Rep. Marcus Molinaro, left, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, and Rep. Nick LaLota, all Republican congressmen from New York, during the Tuesday vote for speaker. Mr. D’Esposito and Mr. LaLota both declined to vote for Rep. Jim Jordan.
Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio lost a bid to become speaker on Tuesday after 20 Republicans refused to back him, prolonging a two-week fight that has paralyzed the chamber and underscored the deep Republican divisions in the House.
The group included vulnerable Republicans from districts that President Biden won in 2020 and congressional institutionalists worried that Mr. Jordan, if elected, would demand extreme spending cuts, including to the military, potentially forcing a government shutdown.
Still others were deeply loyal to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by a band of right-wing rebels mostly allied with Mr. Jordan, or simply stung by the poor treatment of Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who Republicans nominated as Mr. McCarthy’s successor but dropped out after he could not consolidate enough support to win the post on the floor.
Here’s a look at the lawmakers who opposed Mr. Jordan on the first vote.
Biden-district Republicans
There are 18 Republicans in the House who represent districts Mr. Biden won in the last presidential election. Six of them voted for candidates other than Mr. Jordan:
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Don Bacon of Nebraska
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Lori Chavez DeRemer of Oregon
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Anthony D’Esposito of New York
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Jen Kiggans of Virginia
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Nick LaLota of New York
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Mike Lawler of New York
Institutionalists
A group of seven Republicans who serve on the Appropriations Committee, which controls federal spending, expressed concern about Mr. Jordan’s anti-spending past. Some of them feared that he would demand across-the-board funding cuts, including to the military.
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Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida
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Jake Ellzey of Texas
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Tony Gonzales of Texas
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Kay Granger of Texas, the chairwoman of the appropriations panel.
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John Rutherford of Florida
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Mike Simpson of Idaho
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Steve Womack of Arkansas
Mr. Womack said he voted against Mr. Jordan on principle because Mr. Scalise was “kneecapped before he could win over his opponents.”
McCarthy Loyalists
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Doug LaMalfa of California
The northern Californian said he would vote for Mr. Jordan on the second ballot.
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John James of Michigan
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Andrew Garbarino of New York
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Carlos Gimenez of Florida
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Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania
Wild Cards
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Victoria Spartz of Indiana
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Ken Buck of Colorado — Mr. Buck said there were a number of reasons he did not back Mr. Jordan, but his main sticking point was the fact that Mr. Jordan played a lead role in the attempt to overturn President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election on the floor of the House. “I don’t want someone who was involved in the activities of January 6,” he told CNN after the vote.
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent. She was previously a White House correspondent. Before joining The Times, she covered the White House and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign for Politico, and spent a decade covering local politics for the New York Post and the New York Daily News. More about Annie Karni
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Source: nytimes.com
