Congressman Jim Jordan has defeated a late bid by Congressman Austin Scott to become the Republican nominee for speaker of the House as Republicans scramble to coalesce around a new leader. Mr. Jordan faces the same obstacles that caused Representative Steve Scalise to abandon his bid for speaker last night. 

The House is expected to return for a vote on the speakership next week. Congressman Brian Mast tells the Sun, “I’m an optimist,” adding: “I think Jim can get there” when asked whether Mr. Jordan could get to the 217 votes required to become speaker.

Longtime observers of Capitol Hill were less optimistic, noting that Mr. Jordan won the nomination with only a fraction of the votes he will need to win on the House floor. Since Representative Kevin McCarthy was deposed as speaker 10 days ago, House Republicans have been, according to the New York Times, “consumed with an extended struggle of personal grievance, petty beefs, political payback and rampant attention-seeking” and unable to agree on a speaker.

The proprietor of the closely read Punchbowl News, Jake Sherman, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “It seems entirely possible, if not probable, that not one person in the House Republican Conference can win the speakership with GOP votes only.”

Congresswoman Kat Cammack confirmed to the Sun that representatives would be returning to the House on Monday to advance the process of selecting a speaker. It’s not clear if there will be a floor vote on the speakership then.

After Mr. Scalise announced that he was ending his bid for the speakership Thursday night, Mr. Scott announced a short-lived bid for the speakership that ended the same day it began.

“We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,” Mr. Scott said in a statement Friday.

Ahead of a meeting of House Republicans, Mr. Scott told reporters, “The House is not functioning correctly right now,” adding: “I don’t necessarily want to be speaker of the House. I want a House that functions correctly.”

According to reporting by NBC, Mr. Jordan defeated Mr. Scott by a vote of 124 to 81. He will need the support of 217 representatives to be elected speaker. Democrats are expected to support Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, for the speakership.

Politico reports that Mr. Jeffries has floated the idea that some Democrats could also potentially lend their support to a compromise candidate, like Congressman Tom Cole. Yet this suggestion is unlikely to gain traction unless Republicans exhaust all other options.

Others, like Congressman Dave Joyce, have suggested voting to empower the speaker pro tempore, Congressman Patrick McHenry, to take up business other than electing a new speaker.

Because a speaker of the House has never before been removed via a motion to vacate, as befell Mr. McCarthy, the precedent for this scenario is being set now. Mr. Joyce is reportedly working with the House parliamentarian on the plan, though it’s not clear a vote on the issue would pass.

It is clear, though, that dysfunction within the House is potentially reaching a breaking point for some members of the Republican conference, with Congressman Michael McCaul speaking out against his own party in a video posted to X Thursday.

“I see a lot of threats out there, but one of the biggest threats I see is in that room because we can’t unify as a conference and put a speaker in the chair to govern,” Mr. McCaul said. 

He added: “Our adversaries are watching what we do and quite frankly they like it and Chairman Xi talks about how democracy doesn’t work and we’re proving him right and we need to fill the chair with a speaker.”