It’s getting ugly in the House.
Republicans are fried and frazzled over a weekslong battle over the speaker’s gavel and are now resorting to screaming matches and threats to collaborate with Democrats.
Some lawmakers are receiving death threats over their refusal to vote for conservative firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as the Republican conference remains gridlocked over who should lead it.
One Republican holdout, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, said he’s losing the lease on his district office because the landlord is angry he wouldn’t back Mr. Jordan, who has tried and failed to win the speaker’s gavel in three House floor votes this week.
Mr. Buck has also received four death threats for refusing to back Mr. Jordan, he said.
House Republicans spend much of their time together locked in a room in the basement of the Capitol, where they debate what to do next. They trade blame for the fiasco and yell at each other while fighting over proposals to install someone temporarily.
SEE ALSO: Lawmakers behind McCarthy ouster say they will sacrifice themselves to get Jordan elected speaker
When they return to the House floor, the result remains unchanged: They can’t unite to elect a speaker.
Much of the anger in the conference is aimed at the eight hardline conservatives, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who voted along with all Democrats to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Oct. 3.
Republicans, tired of reporters peppering them with questions about how they plan to end the chaos, told them to direct their questions at the lawmakers who pushed out Mr. McCarthy, California Republican.
“They are the reason we are here,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania Republican, said as he headed into yet another basement meeting Friday. “We are going to try to clean up the mess that they caused.”
Most of the gang of eight have offered to agree to some kind of punishment, such as censure, in exchange for the holdouts flipping their votes to Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Jordan has lost support in each round of balloting.
SEE ALSO: Jim Jordan defeated again in a third ballot for House speaker as GOP support decreases
On Thursday, Republicans rejected a proposal to elect Rep. Patrick McHenry, North Carolina Republican, to the role of temporary speaker. He’s not conservative enough for some Republicans, who instead want to leave the speaker’s chair empty to put more pressure on the Jordan holdouts.
“The people want Jim Jordan but instead some of our colleagues are putting personal politics ahead of the people,” Rep. Nancy Mace of North Carolina, one of the lawmakers who pushed out Mr. McCarthy, said Friday.
