So far, at least 12 U.S. House members out of the 20 in Florida’s GOP congressional delegation confirm that they now support Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan to become the next speaker of the House of Representatives.
At the same time, the other GOP members of the group vow that they will not vote for Jordan, and a couple said they will stand behind former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had been ousted.
The U.S. House of Representatives has been without a permanent speaker for nearly two weeks and concern is growing about avoiding a possible government shutdown in a month, as well as addressing pressing issues such as the Israel-Hamas war. On Friday, after Jordan became the next best choice, he still lacked at least 50 votes amongst fellow Republicans. But as fluid events continue, a floor vote is expected at noon on Jordan’s nomination.
Among the dozen of Florida Republicans who say that they will vote for Jordan now include Matt Gaetz, Byron Donalds, Michael Waltz, Anna Paulina Luna, Daniel Webster, Brian Mast, Kat Cammack, Gus Bilirakis, Greg Steube, Cory Mills, Neil Dunn and now Vern Buchanan, who had been a holdout against Jordan but announced on Monday that he had received a phone call from Jordan and now will be offering his support for the Ohio Republican.
But several members of the Florida GOP delegation have said that they will not vote for Jordan, and a couple of them are advocating for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to get his job back. Those two legislators are Jacksonville-area Rep. John Rutherford and South Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez.
“I’m back with Kevin McCarthy, since he out of all of the folks who have thrown their hat in the ring, he is head and shoulders above the rest in the majority that he’s able to put together,” Rutherford told reporters in Washington on Friday.
There have been rumors floating in Washington, D.C. this weekend that some of the anti-Jordan Florida Republicans such as Gimenez, would team up with the Democrats and support their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as U.S. House Speaker.
Gimenez denied that on Monday, writing on X that he is supporting McCarthy and that “I will NEVER support socialist Hakeen Jeffries and anything to the contrary is a fabrication and a flat-out lie.”
Meanwhile as the minority, all House Democrats are expected to vote against Jordan when the House comes together this week to vote for a new leader.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, of Tampa Bay, said on Monday that it was past time for Republicans to come together to elect a new speaker of the house to provide continuity within the U.S. government. She made her comments while in St. Petersburg at a news conference where she advocated that Congress maintain full funding for the Meals on Wheels program when they vote to keep the government running in another month.
“My Republican colleagues in the Congress are entirely too focused on the chaos and dysfunction and extremism and what we need to do right now is put people over politics,” she said.
“I think that [Jordan] is an extremist as well,” Castor said when asked her thoughts on Jordan. “He did not certify the free and fair election we had [in 2020]. He has time and time again tried to undermine the ability of people to work together and get things done in Washington D.C.”
Castor went on to say that if he is elected by his GOP colleagues, it would be “another capitulation to the extremists in Congress.”
“I’m hopeful that we get a speaker this week, but we find a way to come together in a bipartisan way so that it’s someone who works for everybody, not just the extremists,” she said.
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix