How America’s House of Representatives will choose a speaker

AMERICA’S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES has been without a permanent speaker since October 3rd, when a handful of Republican rebels ousted Kevin McCarthy. On October 13th a majority of Republicans picked Jim Jordan, a right-wing firebrand, as their choice to fill the role. It was the party’s second such vote in four days: Mr Jordan lost the first, on October 11th, to Steve Scalise, the House majority leader. To win the speakership a candidate needs a majority in the full House, or 217 votes. Republicans have a slim majority—221 seats to Democrats’ 212—meaning that even a few holdouts could derail the election. Mr Scalise failed to rally his party around him, and dropped out of the race. Now Mr Jordan hopes to avoid the same fate. How will the impasse be resolved?