Jordan fails on first ballot of GOP speaker race

Jim Jordan won’t be speaker of the House — yet.

The Ohio Republican failed to get the 217 votes he needed to clinch the gavel during Tuesday’s first ballot, with 20 GOP votes against him. Many Jordan allies predicted it could take multiple ballots, but it’s unclear if they’ll be able to flip enough holdouts in subsequent votes.

Most Republicans backed Jordan, but he can only afford to lose four votes from his own party given unified Democratic opposition.

Jordan’s defeat risks throwing the House back into a prolonged floor fight like Kevin McCarthy faced in January, when it took the former speaker 15 rounds of voting to secure the majority of the full chamber that’s needed to win the gavel.