Flood continues to back Jordan as McHenry resolution falls through

Amidst turmoil in electing a new Speaker of the House, a move to give Rep. Patrick McHenry the full authority of Speaker of the House temporarily fell short in a Republican Conference meeting Thursday.

Nebraska Congressman Mike Flood began Thursday morning joining Jim Jordan in support of a resolution that would give McHenry the full powers of the Speaker of the House through the end of November.

But Flood says once it became clear the resolution lacked support from enough Republicans, Jordan decided to abandon the plan and instead prepare for more speaker elections.

Flood, who represents Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, voted for Jordan in the first two Speaker elections and says he will continue to support him going forward.

“He's been a strong advocate for providing the type of voter oversight that I think Republicans want of the executive branch and by extension Americans,” Flood said in an interview with Nebraska Public Media News. “He's shown himself to be a true leader.”

Jordan will have to change the votes of a number of Republicans in order to receive a majority vote in the House.

Those Republicans include Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon.

Despite the difficult road ahead, Flood says he remains hopeful Jordan will eventually be elected speaker.

“The 20 holdouts seem to be pretty strong in their position,” Flood said. “But I would have said that on the fourth day of voting when Kevin McCarthy was attempting to become a speaker. I saw that process change.”

Jordan is meeting with GOP holdouts in preparation for a third speaker vote.