WASHINGTON — Three House Republicans from the Texas were among the 20 members who have so far thwarted Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan’s efforts to become Speaker of the House. Notably, those three Texas Republicans have an outsized say in Congress’ power of the purse.  

What You Need To Know

  • Three Texas GOP representative were among the 20 House members to vote against Rep. Jim Jordan’s efforts to become Speaker of the House

  • They are Rep. Jake Ellzey, Rep. Kay Granger and Rep. Tony Gonzales

  • The rest of the Texas Republican delegation cast their ballots for the Ohio lawmaker

  • Even Jordan’s staunchest supporters in the Texas Congressional delegation didn’t think he’d get the gavel on the first round, but they are hopeful he could do so eventually

Walking out of the House chamber, Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie, had nothing to say to but “No comment.”  

It was the same for his colleague Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio. He did not answer questions from journalists after the first round of votes in Jordan’s bid for speaker. Gonzales and Ellzey are both members of the powerful appropriations committee. Along with their chair, Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, the three voted against Jordan. Granger reportedly also ignored questions from journalists. 

The rest of the Texas Republican delegation cast their ballots for the Ohio lawmaker. 

“Jim got 200 votes for Speaker of the House, and if you’d ask somebody that about four years ago, people would have looked at you and laughed,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin. “At the end of the day, we’re in a position where now people can, I mean, they’re out there, and they’re going to their constituents to let them know whether they’re for him or against him. That’s true for all of us.”  

Even Jordan’s staunchest supporters in the Texas Congressional delegation didn’t think he’d get the gavel on the first round, but they are hopeful he could do so eventually. 

“He’s got the momentum, and I think they understand. We’ve spent two weeks at this now, 13 days. We’ve got a [continuing resolution] that runs out in November,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Plano, told Spectrum News prior to the vote. “We need to get back to work, and I think people are starting to understand the pressure.” 

Even back in January when Jordan said he did not want the speaker's gavel, there were a few House Republicans from Texas who voted for Jordan, before eventually standing behind Kevin McCarthy of California. Self was among them. 

“Overwhelmingly, the calls into my office have been for Jim Jordan. I’m talking about 80, 90% of the calls had been for Jim Jordan. So they understand his base conservatism. He is a movement conservative, as opposed to just going with the wind,” Self said. 

Jordan helped co-found the hardline House Freedom Caucus, and Texas members of the group are falling in line behind him.  

“Our 14th District of Texas is very conservative. Jim Jordan is the number three most popular political official in our district,” said Freedom Caucus member Rep. Randy Weber, R-Friendswood, before the vote. “President Trump’s number one, my bride Brenda Gail is number two, Jim Jordan is number three, and I’m number four.” 

This comes almost two weeks after Jordan made a case for himself during a regular luncheon of Texas Republicans. 

“It makes sense to work together as a team. You know, if you’re not working together as a majority, what’s the point in having a majority?” said Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving. 

Van Duyne said she will back whoever the Republican nominee is and conveyed her concerns to Jordan.  

“I’m not asking for anything except for responsible governing, and as a speaker, I want to make sure that we are being fiscally conservative and looking at how much ridiculous out-of-control spending that we’ve seen, and are doing everything that we can to pull it back. And then again, looking at what’s happening at our border,” she said. 

The key question now is how long does the Judiciary chairman keep trying?

“If he has 21 no’s, I don’t see how he can recover. So I assume we’ll probably have a conference later on,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. “For me, the wildcard is McCarthy coming back.”  

McCaul is the chair of the Foreign Affairs committee and he is focused on addressing aid to the U.S.’s war-torn allies.  

“I’m looking at meeting it with the White House on a supplemental for Israel, to a possible authorized use of military force. All this is going on. If we don’t have a speaker in the chair, we look inept. And so we need to fix this. We need to do it soon,” he said. 

When asked if the extraordinary scramble for Speaker puts Republicans in a negative light, Rep. Roger Williams, R- Cleburne, chair of the Small Business Committee, said he believes voters are more focused on issues like the economy.  

“The American public several months now will forget this even happened,” Williams said. “Small business is not really looking at that this much. They want to get it fixed. They want to get regulations out of their hair. They want taxes lower. They want to be able to have a supply chain. They want to have interest rates down.” 

All the House Democrats, including those from Texas, voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York. Some Texas Democrats have raised concerns about Jordan’s role in a previous government shutdown as well as how he challenged the results of the 2020 presidential election.  

“If you vote for Jim Jordan, you should never be recognized as moderate or mainstream ever again. You will have sided with extremism,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, in a video shared on social media.