How they voted: Bacon joins 20 Republicans in voting against Jim Jordan
Congressman Don Bacon cast his vote for Kevin McCarthy in Tuesday’s first-round vote for Speaker of the House
(WOWT) - Here’s who the Congressional representatives from Nebraska and western Iowa cast their ballots for on Tuesday’s vote for Speaker of the House.
In total, 20 Republicans voted against Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, including Don Bacon of Nebraska, who cast his vote for the former speaker. Earlier this month, all members of Congress representing Nebraska and western Iowa had previously voted against removing Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
- 2nd Dist. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.: Kevin McCarthy
- 1st Dist. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb.: Jim Jordan
- 3rd Dist. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb.: Jim Jordan
- 3rd Dist. Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa: Jim Jordan
- 4th Dist. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa: Jim Jordan
After all the votes were tallied, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries received 212 votes, Jordan received 200, Steve Scalise got seven, McCarthy got six, and three votes were cast for others.
Republicans turned their attention to Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman and founder of the far-right Freedom Caucus, after Majority Leader Steve Scalise abruptly ended his bid when it became clear holdouts would refuse to back his nomination.
“These guys want to be in the minority. I think they would prefer that because they could vote ‘no’ and yell and scream all the time,” Bacon told CNN last week. “But governing, you have to work together.”
Asked a day before the vote whether he was a “hard no” on Jordan, he said that wasn’t his stance; but he did express frustration over the situation.
“No I never use the terms ‘hard no’ or ‘never, never’ — but I am opposed. And by the way, there’s good reasons to be both ways on this: Our country needs a speaker. we have major international problems. We need to save Israel,” he told CNN on Monday. “I can’t abide by the fact a small group violated the rules to get what they wanted, so now I’m supposed to play by the rules. So I think we gotta to have consequences, and we have to stand up to this. That’s what Americans do.”
NBC News reported Tuesday afternoon that the Jordan said the next vote for Speaker of the House would take place at 10 a.m. (Central time) Wednesday.
Lawmakers react
“Today’s decision by a handful of my colleagues to vacate the chair undermines the work of House Republicans to enact a conservative agenda and has the unfortunate effect of helping Democrats. I expect this phase will be temporary, and I look forward to restoring Kevin McCarthy to the Speaker’s office. No one will do a better job than him in delivering on our conservative agenda.”
Copyright 2023 WOWT. All rights reserved.
