Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are gearing up for another vote on a new speaker late on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, House Republicans\u2019 candidate for the gavel, fell 17 votes short of the 217 he needed to win on Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re gonna keep going. I\u2019ve had great conversations, great discussions with our colleagues,\u2019 Jordan told reporters in the early evening. \u2018No one in our conference wants to see any type of coalition government with Democrats. So we\u2019re going to keep working, and we\u2019re going to get to the votes.\u2019<\/p>\n
The House is now returning at 11 a.m. for the next planned vote \u2014 but even lawmakers are at a loss about what comes now.<\/p>\n
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday evening that anyone who claims to know what will happen next \u2018is full of it.\u2019<\/p>\n
Malliotakis, who voted for Jordan, said she intends to keep doing so \u2014 and predicted that his support would grow.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think there\u2019s some movement, and that\u2019s positive. So the idea is to build consensus, that\u2019s positive, not to jump ship just because it didn\u2019t work in the first round,\u2019 she said. \u2018As I see it, he\u2019s the person who can bring the factions together now. If he can\u2019t, quite frankly, then we have bigger problems.\u2019<\/p>\n
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, insisted that Jordan was still a viable candidate. He conceded Jordan may lose votes in subsequent rounds but predicted he\u2019d ultimately win.<\/p>\n
\u2018We may see some leakage tomorrow. But if we stand firm, one, I don\u2019t think leakage will be much. And two, I think that we\u2019ll see it start to come our way on subsequent votes. So I am very optimistic,\u2019 Self told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n
But a senior GOP aide who spoke with Fox News Digital was less certain. \u2018Any momentum that Jordan had coming in today \u2014 which I personally thought he had \u2014 gone,\u2019 the aide said.<\/p>\n
They predicted that Republicans could soon have to \u2018start from scratch\u2019 electing a new speaker candidate.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has been teasing the possibility of a compromise with Republicans. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Fox News Digital asked Jeffries whether he had outreach from any Republican members on such a deal, he said there were \u2018informal conversations\u2019 ongoing \u2014 though he declined to give any details.<\/p>\n
\u2018There have been ongoing informal conversations that have been undertaken over the last few days. I think it\u2019s a possibility those can accelerate now that Jim Jordan clearly does not have the votes to be speaker,\u2019 Jeffries said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018There are many good men and women on the Republican side of the aisle who are qualified to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives. There is no circumstance when Jim Jordan is one of them.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked about interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., as one viable candidate, Jeffries told another reporter that McHenry was \u2018respected on our side of the aisle\u2019 but reiterated that there was not one candidate Democrats were tied to.<\/p>\n
But a majority of moderates who were floated as potentially open to working with Democrats have poured cold water on the idea. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who voted against Jordan on Tuesday, wrote on X the day prior, \u2018This is just stupid and a 100% falsehood. Not a SINGLE (not ONE) Republican in the House will be voting for Mr Jeffries.\u2019<\/p>\n
Malliotakis threw cold water on the idea, pointing out that Democrats were now calling for bipartisanship all voted with eight Republicans to oust ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u2018The time to be bipartisan was 14 days ago, and they chose to side with the right-wing fringe to create chaos and bring the Congress to a standstill,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
Self also dismissed the idea outright, saying, \u2018Any Republican that goes across for a coalition government, it would be the death knell, so I just, I don\u2019t even deal with that hypothetical.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The senior GOP aide who spoke with Fox News Digital said any Republican who makes a deal with Democrats to be speaker will likely have a hard time commanding the conference.<\/p>\n \u2018That\u2019s just Hakeem Jeffries saying it in the news so he can say the talking point, of \u2018the Democrats wants to do what\u2019s best for the country and we want to work together and bipartisanship,\u2019\u2019 the aide said.<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s no real talk, and if a Republican crosses over to get their support, then that person immediately starts off with no support from the conference.\u2019<\/p>\n