INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s congressional delegation is reacting after the House of Representatives failed for a third time to elect Jim Jordan as the new Speaker, leading Republicans to take a closed-door vote to move on from Jordan as their nominee.

Prior to Friday’s third vote for Speaker of the House, Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind. District 3 said he was once again planning to support Jordan in the Friday vote.

“I’m about to cast my vote again for Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House,” Banks said. “I will not be deterred by those who are threatening me to back off. Jim Jordan is the fighter we need to save our country and he never backs down either when it comes to putting America first!”

In an interview with IN Focus on Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Victoria Spartz gave her reactions to Wednesday’s second Speaker of the House vote. Spartz said she was initially a Jordan supporter in conference. But she said that changed because she believes he listens to U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and former Speaker of the House, too much.

“I told Jim, ‘it’s a bad idea because you have to work with members and members will be upset because the American people are upset and you will get a lot of calls, but people will start digging in,’” Spartz said.

“A Speaker is elected to serve its members and be able to govern members, so you have to be able to work with people,” Spartz said later. “If you use coercion and intimidation like Kevin McCarthy did, it made him lose his Speakership.”

Spartz changed her vote from U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY the first time back to Jordan the second time. Spartz said she was impressed by the nominating speech given by U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. for Jordan. Spartz thought it was bold and honest and she wanted to support the initiative he presented.

Spartz believes that the Republicans need to go back and have open discussion on the Speaker of the House vote. Spartz said she hopes it doesn’t take many more votes because “grandstanding is not a way to find a solution.”

“I still insist that we need to go back and have… a meeting and try to reconcile our differences as a group,” she said. “I just don’t think him (Jordan) doing it personally at this point is going to work better. I think it’s important for us to have honest conversations, which is very difficult to have in a public arena, with a lot of cameras, a lot of drama.”

Spartz stressed that Republicans should not leave until they reach 217 votes, the number needed to elect a Speaker of the House.

Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. District 7 also provided his thoughts on social media prior to Wednesday’s second vote. Carson said:

“Jim Jordan has unsuccessfully attempted to slash Social Security and Medicare, criminalize abortion, and overturn the 2020 election. At a time of crisis across the world, my colleagues across the aisle need to get serious. We need real leadership, not political bickering.”