Jim Jordan has is on track to lose a third ballot for speaker – in an event that could spell the end of his candidacy. 

Twelve Republicans have already voted against the Judiciary chairman, with the vote ongoing. He could only afford to lose five votes. 

So far Jordan has lost the support of four members who voted for him on previous ballots, and picked up no votes.  

It’s not clear if the renowned conservative ‘fighter’ will continue to fight for the top job on the House floor as it becomes more evident his opposers are not backing down. 

‘It’s kind of like the baseball analogy, three strikes and you’re out,’ said Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., a Jordan supporter. 

Jim Jordan has is on track to lose a third ballot for speaker – in an event that could spell the end of his candidacy

Jordan had called up former Kevin McCarthy to nominate him – some of the Jordan holdouts had been voting for McCarthy instead

Jordan had called up former Kevin McCarthy to nominate him – some of the Jordan holdouts had been voting for McCarthy instead. 

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Ahead of the vote, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Jordan a ‘clear and present danger to our democracy.’ 

Asked why all Democrats had voted to oust McCarthy and risked a potential Speaker Jordan, Jeffries flipped it back on McCarthy, who allowed Jordan to be Judiciary chairman. 

‘Who created Jim Jordan, who normalized Jim Jordan, who was about to nominate [him]?’

After winning an internal GOP 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 is the second candidate for speaker who evidently cannot get to a 217 majority since Kevin McCarthy’s ouster: Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the House’s number two Republican, initially won the GOP conference vote but dropped out as Republicans’ speaker candidate after only 24 hours. 

At the time, Jordan supporters were stubbornly opposed to voting for Scalise even after he won the nomination. Now,a number of Republicans are not only mad about McCarthy’s ouster but mad at how Jordan supporters actively opposed Scalise’s nomination. 

It’s also not clear who could step up to run in Jordan’s place. Names like Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and Mike Johnson, vice chair of the Republican Conference, have all been floated. All are seemingly less controversial than Jordan, McCarthy and Scalise, but it’s not clear whether they could could to 217 either among the free-wheeling House Republicans.