Jimmy Fallon isn’t exactly impressed by Jim Jordan’s second loss for Speaker of the House. During the second round of voting, the Ohio representative lost by even more votes than in the first round.
“That’s like retaking the SAT and finding out you got dumber somehow,” the NBC late night host joked Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, Jordan lost his second bid for the role after several GOP holdouts blocked the vote. Their concern rests in how ultraconservative the Ohio representative is. During the first round of voting, Jordan lost 20 votes. Then on Wednesday’s vote that number jumped to 22.
The House will reconvene at noon on Thursday for a third vote and to find a way forward, according to the New York Times. Jordan failing to secure the vote continues two weeks of infighting within the Republican party.
Following the quip, Fallon presented a series of fake quotes from Democrat and Republican leaders. Highlights included Kentucky representative Hal Rogers responding to “old man,” Michigan politician Mike Rogers perking up at “toupee” and calling congressman Richard Neal “dead in the eyes.”
As chaotic as this Speaker of the House election has been, Republicans have been here before — specifically, earlier this year. In January, Kevin McCarthy was named the 55th speaker for the U.S. House of Representatives after 15 rounds of voting. McCarthy only managed to land the position by introducing and agreeing to a clause that allowed a single House member to introduce a vote to remove the speaker. That clause would come to back to haunt him in September.
Faced with the possibility of a government shutdown, McCarthy introduced a temporary bill that was supported by Democrats. This led to Representative Matt Gaetz, who was frustrated that McCarthy worked with Democrats, to file a motion to remove McCarthy from his position. McCarthy was ousted from the job on October 3, becoming the speaker with the third-shortest tenure in U.S. history as well as the first speaker to ever be removed during a legislative session.
