WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Jordan and his allies have begun a right-wing pressure campaign against Republicans opposed to electing him speaker, working to unleash the rage of the party’s base voters against any lawmaker standing in the way of his election.

Even after Jordan, the hard-right Ohio Republican, won his party’s nomination for the post Friday, he remained far short of the 217 votes he needed to win the gavel.

In efforts to close the gap, lawmakers and activists close to him have taken to social media and the airwaves to blast the Republicans they believe are blocking his path to victory and encourage voters to browbeat them into supporting Jordan.

“You want to explain to your voters why you blocked Jordan?” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Then bring it.”

The strategy is reminiscent of the bullying tactics that Jordan and his allies have used over the past decade to pull the GOP further to the right and borrows a page from former President Donald Trump, who is backing Jordan.

Jordan’s closeness to Trump has given him unparalleled cachet with the party base, and his backers were counting on that to help him prevail in a vote that could come as early as Tuesday.

Jordan’s supporters said his decision to send lawmakers home to their districts over the weekend rather than keeping them in Washington for one-on-one meetings to drum up support was a deliberate move to intensify grassroots pressure on them to fall into line.

It was unclear whether the pressure campaign would be able to net Jordan the votes he needed. On Friday, 81 Republicans backed a late entry to the race, Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, to lodge a protest vote against Jordan. Scott quickly swung in line behind Jordan after his defeat. But on a second ballot asking simply whether GOP lawmakers would support the Ohio Republican if the speaker nomination went to the floor, 55 still said no.

Some conservative strategists believe Jordan will easily be able to win over his detractors, institutionalists who put a high premium on a functioning government and projecting normalcy.

“These 60 members are not voting against Jordan on the floor,” Russell Vought, president of the Center for Renewing America, a think tank with ties to Trump, and a strategist close to Jordan, wrote on X. “Take it to the floor & call their bluff.”

Federal firefighters: Thousands of federal firefighters could face substantial pay cuts in the coming weeks, potentially hampering the country’s ability to respond to wildfires as they have grown more severe.

Federal wildland firefighters received a temporary boost to their paychecks last year, which was meant to help strained agencies offer more competitive wages to recruit and retain workers. But funding for the pay raises is set to run dry next month, and federal officials have warned that more firefighters will leave for higher-paying jobs if their salaries are slashed.

The federal government has long struggled to hire firefighters, largely because wages have lagged behind some state and local counterparts.

Denver party shooting: Three people are dead after a shooting early Saturday at a party in Denver, police said.

Denver police who were called to a party at an industrial storefront found one person dead with gunshot wounds, police said. Another five victims were taken to local hospitals, where two were pronounced dead.

The names and ages of the victims weren’t immediately available.

Evidence showed that shots were fired from at least two firearms at the party, police said.

NZ elects conservative PM: Conservative former businessman Christopher Luxon will be New Zealand’s next prime minister after winning a decisive election victory Saturday.

People voted for change after six years of a liberal government led for most of that time by Jacinda Ardern.

The exact makeup of Luxon’s government was still to be determined as ballots continued to be counted.

Outgoing Prime Minister Chris Hipkins spent just nine months in the top job after taking over in January from Ardern, who unexpectedly stepped down in January, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do the job justice. She won the last election in a landslide, but her popularity waned as people got tired of COVID-19 restrictions and inflation threatened the economy.

David Farrar, a longtime conservative pollster, said his initial impression of voting throughout the country was that it was turning out to be a “bloodbath” for the left.

Luxon has promised tax cuts for middle-income earners and a crackdown on crime. Hipkins had promised free dental care for people younger than 30 and the removal of sales taxes on fruit and vegetables.

Australian referendum: Australians resoundingly rejected on Saturday a referendum proposal to create an advocacy committee to offer advice to Parliament on policies that affect Indigenous people — the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.

The government proposed the first constitutional change since 1977 as a step forward in Indigenous rights. But the vote divided Indigenous leaders as well as the wider community.

More than 59% of voters opposed the so-called Voice to Parliament with almost half the votes counted by Saturday. The loss is unofficial but is not contested.

Voice advocates had hoped that listening to Indigenous views would lead to more effective delivery of government services and better outcomes for Indigenous lives.

Opponents said the Voice would divide Australians along racial lines without reducing Indigenous disadvantages. They also said it could be a first step toward Indigenous claims for repatriation and compensation.

Accounting for only 3.8% of the population, Indigenous Australians die on average eight years younger than the wider population, have a suicide rate twice that of the national average and suffer from diseases in the remote outback that have been eradicated from other wealthy countries.

Congo UN peacekeepers: The United Nations said it will repatriate nine peacekeepers from a South African contingent in eastern Congo who were accused of sexual assault and other abuse.

The U.N. decided to immediately repatriate the peacekeepers and a senior officer of the South African army “due to the seriousness of the allegations against them,” the organization said in a statement Friday.

The U.N. said its preliminary assessment found that the nine peacekeepers were “fraternizing after curfew hours” in prohibited bars where prostitution takes place. The soldiers were also alleged to have assaulted staff of the peacekeeping mission and the military police who were trying to arrest them, the statement added.