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After Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, failed in his bid to become speaker of the House, a new crop of candidates is jumping into the race.

 representatives announced their intention to seek their conference's nomination for the top job ahead of the Sunday deadline: Jack Bergman of Michigan, Byron Donalds of Florida, 

, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Austin Scott of Georgia and Pete Sessions of Texas.

Rep. Emmer seeking House speaker nomination

 earlier this month, following an uprising by far-right members of his own party. The unprecedented move left the House without a replacement, plunging the lower chamber into legislative paralysis with no clear path forward. 

As underscored by McCarthy's unseating and the two unsuccessful campaigns for the gavel that followed, the House Republican conference remains deeply divided. In all three voting 

, the list of Republicans voting against the far-right Ohioan only grew. Before him, Republican Majority Leader 

A forum for the contenders will be held on Monday; the vote to narrow down the list of candidates is scheduled for Tuesday.

This time, a new tool has been added into the mix to ensure the speaker designate, the candidate elected in the initial Tuesday vote, can rally 217 "yeas" on the House floor — the stage that sank previous nominees. Republicans currently have 221 members in the House; Democrats have 212.

 on Friday, which seeks the commitment of Republicans "to support the Speaker Designate elected by the House Republican Conference — regardless of who that candidate is — when their election proceeds to the House Floor."

"I'm urging all my colleagues to join this pledge so we can move forward with electing a Speaker and get on with the people's business," 

The majority of speaker contenders have signaled their support for the pledge, with at least six of them signing the commitment. 

NPR's Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.

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After Rep. Jim Jordan ended his unsuccessful bid, a new field of candidates has flooded the race. Most of them are now backing a pledge aimed at ensuring a House floor vote ends in an elected speaker.

House speaker race widens to 9 Republicans vying for nomination

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