Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-OH) bid for the speakership is in grave peril after he lost for the third time on Friday by an even wider margin than on the first two ballots.
Jordan's allies aren't giving up, however, and they are launching desperate new plans to save his campaign.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Jordan's allies now want to have a secret ballot within the conference to gauge his true support among members, which they hope will show Jordan's nemeses within the party that they are a small minority.
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“If he is still the designee, we come back and vote – and that’s the will of the conference,” said Jordan ally Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). “It’s not one person dragging everybody through this."
An even wilder plan is being pushed by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), one of the eight Republicans who voted earlier this month to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
In a letter posted on her Twitter account, Mace said that she and the other eight Republicans who voted to give McCarthy the boot would be willing to accept "censure, suspension or removal from the conference" at the hands of their fellow Republicans so long as they voted to make Jordan speaker.
However, there is a problem with Mace's letter: Namely, not everyone who supposedly signed it appears to be on board.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who voted to oust McCarthy and who has also declined to back Jordan, told conservative journalist Michael Warren that he did not sign the letter despite the fact that his name is on it.
