Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) admitted on Tuesday that the pressure campaign by some of Rep. Jim Jordan’s allies to get holdouts to support the Ohio congressman for Speaker “backfired”.
Asked on Fox News if the push by some lawmakers to get Jordan’s critics to cave and elect him Speaker turned off some GOP representatives Donalds said, “I believe it was.”
“I’ve talked to a couple of members where they felt that’s just not what they needed,” he continued. “I don’t think that’s what we should be doing right now.”
“I think some of the pressure campaigns have backfired. They have not worked,” Donalds added. “So, I think that right now under the leadership of Jim Jordan, I would request that people just take a break, take a pause, let the members work and figure this out amongst ourselves so we can elect Jim Jordan as Speaker, and then we can get back to the work that we have to do.”
This comes after reports that some of Jordan’s allies were trying to intimidate anti-Jordan lawmakers to get them to support his speakership bid. Axios also reported that Fox News host Sean Hannity was sending emails to moderate Republican members of Congress asking why they are not supporting Jordan for Speaker.
But, their pressure campaign ultimately failed on the first ballot Tuesday as Jordan only received 200 of the 217 votes needed to be elected Speaker. Twenty Republicans oppose his candidacy.
The House subsequently went into recess and a second vote is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday.
