Firebrand Ohioan Jim Jordan has vowed to stay in the battle for speaker and head to another floor vote on Friday – urging his colleagues to get behind him ‘as soon as possible.’ 

After winning an internal nomination, Jordan lost 20 votes on his first ballot for speaker and 22 on his second. On Friday morning, he’ll move to a third ballot. 

Jordan said he hopes the House can get a speaker today, and noted that even as many speculated he would lose well more than 20 votes between the first and second ballot, he only bled two votes. 

Firebrand Ohioan Jim Jordan has vowed to stay in the battle for speaker and head to another floor vote on Friday – urging his colleagues to get behind him ‘as soon as possible’

‘We picked up a few we lost a few. I think the ones we lost can come back. So look. There’s been multiple rounds of votes for speaker before. We all know that. I just know that we need to get the speaker as soon as possible.’ 

He began by talking about American exceptionalism – the Wright brothers taking flight and Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier happened in the same lifetime: 66 years apart. 

He then turned to American grievances, pitching himself as the one to change the nation’s path. 

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‘People I think, are starting to doubt and wonder about their government and about where our nation is headed. They see an open border. They see crime in the streets. They know what it costs to put gas in their car. They know what it costs to put food on the table. They see a war and Israel our strongest ally Israel, what’s happening there and the help that Israel needs.

Jordan began by talking about American exceptionalism – the Wright brothers taking flight and Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier happened in the same lifetime: 66 years apart

‘And they see a government that’s been weaponized against We the People. The very government is supposed to serve us has been turned on the taxpayers who pay for it.’

Jordan, chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee, went on: ‘I think the American people are thirsty for change. I think they are hungry for leadership.’ 

Jordan’s path to the speakership looks no more optimistic Friday than it did earlier in the week. On Thursday evening Jordan met privately with 14 of his holdouts and none of them said they were swayed to vote for him after the meeting. 

At least one Jordan supporter – Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., – has left town, he’s in Israel. Others may have done so too. Still others who voted for Jordan on previous ballots are expected to flip against him.