With hours left until crucial speaker vote, Kean still won’t say how he’ll vote

The United States House of Representatives is scheduled to hold a critical vote later today on the next Speaker of the House – and one New Jersey House Republican still isn’t saying how he’ll vote.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), asked about the looming vote this morning as he entered the offices of the Republican National Committee near the Capitol, said only, “It’s good to see you!” He did not comment on the vote, his plans, or anything else.

Swing-district Republicans like Kean will be crucial to determining whether Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) – the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and long one of the most prominent right-wing Republicans in the House – gets the 217 votes he’ll need to become speaker. Jordan, who won an internal GOP secret-ballot vote for the speaker nomination last week, has unified most of the Republican caucus but still has some detractors.

Among Jordan’s supporters are New Jersey’s other two Republican congressmen, Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) and Chris Smith (R-Manchester). Van Drew has been a Jordan backer ever since former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted on October 3, while Smith originally backed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) in an initial caucus vote but switched to Jordan after Scalise dropped out.

Kean, though, never revealed who he supported in those internal votes, and remains secretive about his thoughts even now.

If just a few Republicans oppose Jordan, they – combined with universal opposition from House Democrats, who are solidly behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) – would be enough to block Jordan from the speakership.

That presents Kean with an unenviable choice: either back someone who is significantly more conservative than he is for speaker, or vote for someone else and add himself to the small cohort of Republicans preventing the House from electing a speaker and working to fund the government. The House is scheduled to return at noon, so it’ll only be a couple more hours until he has to cast a vote one way or the other.