For the second time this year, the House of Representatives met to nominate a speaker to lead lower chamber of Congress forward.

And for the second time this year, things did not go smoothly, with the Republican nominee for the role of Speaker of the House — a position second in line for the presidency — failing to secure the necessary votes.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a conservative firebrand and favorite of former President Donald Trump, failed to secure the 217 necessary to win the speaker’s gavel. With one Republican absence on Tuesday, Jordan could only afford to lose three votes. He ended up with 200 on the first ballot.

Instead, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers broke ranks, voting for a myriad of candidates other than the Ohio firebrand – evoking memories of the 15 rounds of votes it took to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House in January.

Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a centrist Republican, was the first Republican to break ranks with his party, voting for the recently ousted McCarthy. Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez, Virginia Rep. Jen Kiggans and California Rep. Doug LaMalfa also backed the California Republican.

Several Republicans voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who withdrew his name from contention for the speaker race last week, including Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and John Rutherford, Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly and Texas Reps. Tony Gonzales and Kay Granger.

Scalise and McCarthy, for their parts, voted for Jordan, drawing applause from Republican lawmakers. Georgia Rep. Austin Scott, who ran against Jordan last week for the nomination, also voted for the Ohio Republican, to a smattering of claps.

New York Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLolta and Andrew Garbarino cast votes for former Rep. Lee Zeldin, the failed Republican gubernatorial candidate. Rep. Jake Ellzey of Texas voted for California Rep. Mike Garcia and Colorado Rep. Ken Buck voted for Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, while Michigan Rep. John James voted for Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole and Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz backed Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie.

Democrats, on the other hand, remained united behind House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who received 212 votes.

"House Democrats are unified and ready to get to work," Jeffries wrote on X, formerly Twitter, as the votes were being counted and it was clear that Jordan's first attempt at the speakership was unsuccessful.

Congress has been paralyzed by the lack of a House speaker, with the lower chamber unable to conduct any business until they pick a leader – a troubling prospect as lawmakers face an urgency to act on priorities like funding the government and providing aid to Israel.

It’s unclear when the House would hold another vote to pick the speaker. A spokesperson for Jordan initially insisted that there would be another one on Tuesday, but no more votes were scheduled for the day; the House will reconvene at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

It's also not clear if Jordan will be able to win over enough holdouts to win the speakership. House Republicans broke into a conference meeting to try and hash out a path forward, with McCarthy saying he does not expect another vote to happen right away.

Massie, who won one vote for speaker on Tuesday, was bullish on Jordan's chances, predicting that the holdouts would eventually succumb to pressure: "I don’t think any of these 20 have the stomach for forcing that vote over and over."

But Diaz-Balart told reporters that he "will not be pressured or intimidated" into voting for Jordan, while Colorado's Ken Buck told Spectrum News that "at this point" there's nothing the Ohio Republican can do at this point to win him over. 

North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy told Spectrum News that he was surprised by so many holdouts opposed Jordan on the first ballot, but predicted that about half of them would flip on a subsequent vote – which would still not be enough to win the speakership.

But it was Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, who seemed to sum things up best, telling reporters, per the New York Times: "I don’t know what to think."

Jordan and Scalise met after the vote, with the Ohio Republican lobbying the House Majority Leader for support. A source familiar with the meeting told Spectrum News that Scalise was not eager to aid Jordan, who ran against him for speaker last week.

But a spokesperson for Scalise denied he was not supportive of Jordan's speakership: "Leader Scalise has been the only candidate throughout this process who has publicly declared he will be supportive of whomever the conference nominates for Speaker, and his position has not changed. He voted for Jim Jordan on the floor and will continue to do so."

Meanwhile, as Jordan continued to work to win over some holdouts, Diaz-Balart sent a letter to temporary speaker Patrick McHenry urging him to call the House back for a vote immediately – a stance endorsed by other lawmakers, like Gimenez and Womack, who opposed the Ohio Republican.

But the House did not reconvene immediately for a vote on Tuesday, adjourning until Wednesday morning – leaving the chamber without a leader for yet another day.

Speaking outside the Capitol on Tuesday evening, Jeffries called Jordan "the poster child for MAGA extremism" and "a clear and present danger to our democracy," and called for a bipartisan path forward to reopen the chamber.

"The American people need the House of Representatives reopened so we can go about getting things done for everyday Americans and solving problems for hardworking American taxpayers," Jeffries said. "In the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made clear that we are ready, willing and able as a fine bipartisan common ground on any issues in order to make a difference in the lives of everyday Americans."

In a speech to formally nominate Jordan to the position earlier Tuesday, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, called this “a time of great crisis across America, a time of historic challenges in this very chamber” and compared the Ohio Republican to the Book of Esther — the biblical story where the eponymous heroine saves the Jews of Persia from a plot to kill them — which drew groans from the Democratic side of the room.

“I am reminded of the book of Esther: ‘for such a time as this,’” she said. “Jim Jordan will be America’s speaker for such a time as this.”

Stefanik also drew jeers and laughter from Democrats when she mentioned Jordan's success "on the wrestling mat." Jordan was an assistant coach with Ohio State University’s wrestling program from 1987 to 1995, before leaving to serve in the Ohio legislature. He has faced criticism and questions over his tenure amid a probe from the university into a disgraced team doctor who was accused of sexual misconduct. Former members of the wrestling team have accused Jordan, an assistant coach, of knowing about the abuse and failing to report or act on the information. Jordan denied the allegations, saying he was never aware of any abuse.

"Jim Jordan will be We the People's speaker for such a time as this," Stefanik said. "Our friend and colleague Jim Jordan is a patriot. He is an America First warrior who wins the toughest of fights going after corruption and delivering accountability at the highest levels of government on behalf of We the People. Jim is the voice of the American people who have felt voiceless for far too long."

House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., who formally nominated Jeffries for speaker, said of Jordan that "it would send an even more troubling message to our enemies, that the very people who would seek to undermine democracy are rewarded with positions of immense power."

"We're talking about someone who has spent his entire career trying to hold our country back, putting our national security in danger, attempting government shutdown after government shutdown, wasting taxpayer dollars on baseless investigations with dead ends, authoring the very bill that would ban abortion nationwide without exceptions and inciting violence on this chamber," Aguilar said. 

"This is not the history we wanted to make here in the House," the California Democrat said. "It's something that none of us imagined when we were sworn in to this office. We are here because the house has been thrown into chaos. We are here because this hallowed chamber has been led to a breaking point by two dangerous forces, extremism and partisanship.

"The choice before us is simple: Come together on a bipartisan path forward or take us over the cliff, abandon the extremism that is preventing us from getting things done, or triple down on division and dysfunction," Aguilar said. "A vote today to make the architect of a nationwide abortion ban a vocal election denier and an insurrection insider to the speaker of this house would be a terrible message to the country and our allies."