By Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu

With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team

After the Republican conference booted Jim Jordan, the anticipated rush of alternative candidates began for the endlessly chaos-ridden House GOP. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

EVERYONE INTO THE SPEAKER POOL!

It was an anticlimactic ending for Jim Jordan on Friday. And minutes after the Republican conference booted the Ohio Republican as its Speaker nominee, 86-112, the anticipated rush of alternative candidates began for the endlessly chaos-ridden House GOP.

Who’s in? Republicans have until Sunday at noon to submit their names for speaker, but more than a half-dozen are already making calls or floating their names: Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (Texas), Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern (Okla.), and Reps. Dan Meuser (Pa.) Austin Scott (Ga.), Jack Bergman (Mich.) and Byron Donalds (Fla.).

We expect several more to announce before the deadline. Republicans will return Monday night for a candidate forum, then a conference vote that’s likely to follow on Tuesday.

Here’s the important thing: None of those candidates is currently close to the near-total support in the GOP that’s needed to become speaker. And the sheer number of hopefuls jumping in is likely to only make it tougher for one to emerge with that support.

The further House Republicans go down their bench to lesser-known names, the more likely it is that their unprecedented speaker crisis drags past the one-month mark (it’s already more than halfway there).

“It's probably impossible to announce a campaign for speaker in just a couple of days,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said. “The process took [Kevin] McCarthy and [Nancy] Pelosi and many others months and years to build a confidence [among] members to get across the finish line. And to try to do so in a week, it's pretty futile.”

Emmer goes into the race with the deepest strongest built-in reservoir of goodwill, as a former National Republican Congressional Committee chief. But as our Olivia Beavers notes, he also has Trump world problems that his skeptics are likely to use against him. Your Huddle host has already reported on one of them.

Don’t forget the wild card: Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), who has led the effort to empower Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), said his proposal is still an option if Republicans keep wandering in the leader-less wilderness.

“It was pretty clear that we need to empower a speaker. And for whatever reason, this group didn't feel that was something that they wanted to do,” Joyce said. “So here we are.”

McHenry himself, after indicating Friday that he would be open to a vote on formally giving him power to run the House, suggested to colleagues that it was time to go home.

“The space and time for a reset is, I think, an important thing for House Republicans,” he said.

The latest source of anger: Scalise never took his speaker nomination to a floor vote, well aware that he wouldn’t get the support he needed. Jordan took the opposite route, pushing his bid to three rounds – and even though he only lost between 20 and 25 votes, that move engendered a lot more private frustration.

Think about it this way: When the conference asked in a secret ballot if Jordan should remain the GOP’s pick, his number of opponents went up five-fold from the public tally. It took a private vote to get the majority of House Republicans to reveal what they really thought: Jordan was done.

“We don't feel good about anything that's happening,” said Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.), one of Jordan’s opponents. “We shouldn't be in this situation.”

One question we have: Jordan allies in the conservative activism sphere were starting to organize public shows of force outside the district offices of the Republicans who wouldn’t back him for speaker. Now that he’s formally out of the running, will they happen? If you’re an aide to one of those members, let us know.

— Daniella Diaz, with assist from Katherine Tully-McManus

A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:

Don’t Let Durbin-Marshall Steal YOUR Data: Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall introduced legislation allowing big-box retailers like Walmart and Target to process credit card transactions based solely on what is cheapest for them, disregarding YOUR data security. Durbin-Marshall would shift billions in consumer spending to higher-risk payment networks, weakening America’s payment system and putting consumers in a vulnerable position. Last year, Congress wisely rejected a similar Durbin-Marshall bill, and they must do so again.

GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, Oct. 20 where there was pizza for all today.

TICK TOCK: The government will shut down in 28 days if Congress can’t pass a funding patch … and it has been 17 days since the House last had an elected speaker.

WHAT IT’S LIKE LATELY FOR MUSLIM AND MIDDLE EASTERN AIDES

The first point of contact that the public has with any Hill office is often the junior staffer who runs a lawmaker’s phone line. As the Israel-Hamas war broke out, those incoming calls left some aides from Muslim and Middle Eastern backgrounds feeling personally targeted.

“It’s very mentally taxing when you get a barrage of phone calls and people have a range of opinions – some of which you agree with, some you that you don’t – but very angry and targeted towards you,” said one staffer from a Muslim background, granted anonymity to speak candidly with Huddle.

The staffer also pointed out an imbalance that left her hamstrung in dealing with constituents: Her member’s office had not yet drafted a planned response to pro-Palestinian phone callers, but she already had a response to pro-Israel callers on hand.

She’s part of a group of staffers from Muslim and Middle Eastern backgrounds who took the rare step of answering an open call and taking part in a virtual group interview this week. The conversation about Muslim and Middle Eastern aides’ experiences in congressional offices took place on condition of anonymity out of concern for the staffers’ safety.

Nine aides, from both parties, told a small group of reporters that they feel a backlash on the job as the war goes on.

“Being somebody who's a visibly Muslim woman, I currently feel like I have a target on my back walking into work every single day,” another staffer said. A third said she tried to increase her time spent working remotely because of the perceived hostility.

Jewish aides on the Hill are facing their own unnerving moments. Some have privately shared how rattled they were by reports that signs supporting Israel were torn off the wall outside lawmakers’ offices. Those incidents are under investigation by Capitol Police. The Congressional Jewish Staffers Association did not return a request for comment.

The experiences of aides from different backgrounds reflect a broader tension that’s taken hold across Washington and the nation since Hamas first attacked Israel nearly two weeks ago. A State Department official resigned this week in formal protest of the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict, and more than 400 congressional aides anonymously released a letter asking their bosses to support a ceasefire.

Some of the staffers who anonymously spoke out this week said their concerns ranged beyond constituents of their bosses – that they felt judged by their colleagues for their views in support of Palestinians.

After the conflict started, one of the staffers recalled, “it just felt like my office was asking me questions regarding my allegiance. My name being my name, people were like, ‘What are your ties to Iran? What are your ties to Saudi Arabia? How do you feel about these guys?’ And from then on, I've just kind of been on eggshells the entire time.”

Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), one of three Muslims serving in Congress, praised the staffers for speaking out.

“Any work environment that has created a hostile situation because of one's views is a work environment that I think shouldn't be supported not only by taxpayers, but by employees who come to work seeking to do good and serve constituents,” he said.

— Nicholas Wu, with assist from Katherine Tully-McManus

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COURT UPHOLDS FINES FOR DODGING METAL DETECTORS

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the House's ability to fine members who skirted the metal detectors during the 117th Congress.

Refreshing your memory: After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, House Democratic leadership enacted a series of changes to the chamber’s rules – including requiring members entering the floor to walk through metal detectors, with fines imposed for anyone who dodged the security measure. The penalties were hefty — $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for additional infractions.

The metal detectors are gone now under a Republican majority. But Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), of the members who got fined, sued over the issue. A separate lawsuit over the House’s mask mandates, a pandemic-era move by Democratic leaders that’s also not longer in place, got rejected by a federal appeals court on similar grounds earlier this year.

And what are the grounds? Essentially, the appellate court ruling affirmed that whichever party has the majority in the House and Senate gets to determine the respective chambers’ internal procedures.

— Daniella Diaz, with assist from Kyle Cheney 

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Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) gets some influencer tips from none other than Tony P.

Democrats ate a lot of District Taco today.

Some people are running for speaker … and others are just running.

A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:

QUICK LINKS 

White House to Congress: We want $106 billion for the wars and the border, from Jennifer Haberkorn and Adam Cancryn

Dean Phillips has told lawmakers he’s running against Joe Biden, from Nicholas Wu, Elena Schneider, Holly Otterbein

McHenry open to expanding his powers as acting speaker — but only with a 'formal vote', from Caitlin Emma

MONDAY IN CONGRESS

House Republicans are in at 6:30 p.m. for a speaker candidate forum.

The Senate is out.

A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:

CONGRESS: Don’t Let Durbin-Marshall Steal YOUR Data:
Cyber-attacks against consumers are on the rise, with large retailers like Target falling victim to breaches that expose customer information to hackers and foreign countries.

Now, mega-retailers like Walmart and Target want to leave you even more vulnerable to credit card cyber-attacks so they can pocket billions of dollars in additional profits.

After Senator Dick Durbin passed similar routing mandates for debit cards in 2010, the fraud rate for debit cards increased by NEARLY 60%. A similar outcome for credit cards would likely cost OVER $6 BILLION in additional fraud and likely require passing much of the bill onto consumers.

Last year, Congress wisely rejected a similar Durbin-Marshall bill, and they should do so again. Congress must protect consumers, preserve the integrity of the payment ecosystem, and reject this detrimental and unnecessary government intervention into the U.S. payment system.

THURSDAY’S ANSWER: The first elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the House was George Dent of Maryland. He was made pro temp in 1798.

TODAY’S QUESTION: Which state's senate delegation has adjacent names in the Senate's alphabetical roster? 

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected].

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