Why do Republicans oppose Jim Jordan as speaker and whats next? House of Representatives
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The House is now in its second week without a leader, leaving one chamber of Congress effectively paralyzed until a speaker is elected. Jordan is a hardline conservative and co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right members who have been a thorn in the side of previous GOP leaders for years. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Ohio Republican is also one of the most vocal defenders of former President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill and is playing a leading role in the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Scalise sits far from leadership, seen by some lawmakers as a protest
Jordan supporters generally believe he has an advantage in a public vote on the House floor where each member's vote will also be viewed as a test of their loyalty to Trump. It is unclear whether Jordan will fall to the same fate as Scalise, as winning the nomination is far different from winning on the House floor. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Paul Ryan was ousted from House speakership. Former athletes have said he turned a blind eye to abuse perpetrated by Richard Strauss, a doctor, which according to an official report was widely seen as an “open secret”. The abuse sprang into focus decades after it happened, when former students accused physician Richard Strauss of abusing wrestlers and other athletes. An independent investigation conducted by law firm Perkins Coie on behalf of The Ohio State University and released in 2019 alleged Strauss abused at least 177 students while he was a school doctor, including at least 48 wrestlers.
Democrats chant support for Jeffries
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Jordan received his law degree from Capital University Law School in Ohio in 2001, the same year he went from being a state representative to a state senator. Some members have also raised the possibility of a consensus candidate if Jordan fails to secure the required support to become speaker. North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy raised McHenry and Reps. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Byron Donalds of Florida as potential "compromise" candidates. Whether he will ultimately have better luck than Scalise in uniting the fractured Republican conference remains to be seen, but a follow-up vote made clear that he has a steep hill to climb. Asked whether they plan to support Jordan in a vote of the full House, 152 GOP members said yes, and 55 said no, according to one lawmaker. Lawmakers like Chip Roy of Texas see the governing wing of the party as being part of the very swamp they're trying to change.
Jordan loses vote on whether he should remain in the race
The report also said that on Jan. 2, 2021, Jordan led a conference call with Trump and other lawmakers that raised the idea of "issuing social media posts encouraging President Trump's supporters to 'march to the Capitol' on the 6th." The House Republican Conference gathered for a closed-door meeting Friday afternoon, where they voted by secret ballot on whether Jordan should remain the nominee. Eighty-six members said Jordan should stay in the race, and 112 said he shouldn't, according to lawmakers who were in the room.
Republicans Tap Jordan for Speaker, but Delay Vote as Holdouts Balk
That opens up the door to numerous contenders, starting with McCarthy, Scalise and McHenry if they are interested, along with some House Republicans who are far from household names. Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3 House Republican, has begun making calls about a bid for speaker, according to a person familiar with the matter. Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana is making calls about a potential speaker bid, according to a spokeswoman. Three Republicans from swing districts won by Mr. Biden in 2020 — Representatives Marc Molinaro of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey — abandoned Mr. Jordan after supporting him earlier. Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the Republican whip, began making calls about his bid for speaker, according to a person familiar with his activities.
House speaker updates: Jim Jordan out as Republican nominee - NPR
House speaker updates: Jim Jordan out as Republican nominee.
Posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Led by Jordan, the conservative members of the caucus pushed for a motion to "vacate the chair" against then-Speaker John Boehner, the same move that ultimately ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his speakership. Before any vote could take place, Boehner announced his resignation in September 2015. Jordan, the current GOP nominee for speaker, and McCarthy had initially spoken up in favor of the idea during the closed-door meeting.
"And if that means that I support someone that may be more conservative than me and may be a political lightning rod, but I'm willing to do that, especially if he's the only candidate." Five days after the Capitol attack, Trump gave Jordan the presidential medal of freedom. Jim Jordan, the Ohio congressman who is seeking to become House speaker, is a prominent celebrity on the far right of US politics – and a magnet for controversy who a former speaker from his own party once called a “political terrorist”. A controversy that has reemerged with Jordan vying for the speakership dates back to his time as a wrestling coach at The Ohio State University before he became a state legislator.
Another potential leadership crisis has raised significant concerns among Republicans about how it would reflect on the party in a critical election year. The coming showdown has the potential to plunge the House into chaos once again after the lower chamber has already seen the ouster of its last GOP speaker, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy. Finding a replacement for the California Republican took three weeks amid significant GOP infighting, with former President Donald Trump demonstrating his power over the party by making public statements that undercut support for one of the leading candidates. Mr. Scalise had surpassed Mr. Jordan during an internal party contest on Wednesday by just 14 votes.
Ohio State University accusations
The letter Gaetz is circulating bears the names of all eight anti-McCarthy members, but a spokesman for Buck said his name was included erroneously. Buck has voted for Majority Whip Tom Emmer, not Jordan, in all three rounds of voting for speaker. There is now a secret ballot underway in the Republican Conference's meeting about whether Jordan should drop his bid to be the next House speaker, according to two lawmakers in the room. Jordan lost the closed-door, secret-ballot vote on whether he should remain the party's nominee, with just 86 of his fellow Republicans saying he should and 112 saying he shouldn't, according to several lawmakers. Representative Marc Molinaro of New York, who voted against Jordan on the third ballot, said that Jordan told his fellow Republicans after the vote that if they wanted to start the process over, he would support their decision. Scalise is currently the second-ranking Republican in the House as its majority leader.
But several of the mainstream Republicans who voted against Mr. Jordan said they were irrevocably opposed to his candidacy, and predicted that opposition to the Ohio Republican would only grow. Many of them said they were emboldened to hold their ground by the pressure campaign that Mr. Jordan’s allies unleashed on them over the weekend to try to get them to cave and support him. The tactics included posting the holdouts’ names and office phone numbers to social media and in some cases running robocalls in their districts. Mr. Jordan said he would keep fighting to secure the majority of votes he needs to become speaker, and spent much of Wednesday afternoon meeting with some of the holdouts. But it was clear after the second ballot that there was no immediate end in sight to the stalemate that has left the House leaderless and in turmoil after two weeks of Republican infighting. Representative Jim Jordan, the hard-line Republican from Ohio, lost a second bid for speaker on Wednesday after running headlong into opposition from a group of mainstream G.O.P. holdouts who vowed to block the ultraconservative from the leadership post.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a Jordan ally, was confident that the Ohio Republican could win the gavel on the floor but conceded it could take several rounds of voting. "It's not popular to vote against Jim Jordan on the floor. He has the people's support. So even if he didn't get to 217 on the first round, I think his numbers grow under subsequent rounds." The next step in the process for electing a new speaker involves a vote of the full House, Democrats included. Scalise's nomination never got that far, since he lacked the support among his own members that would have avoided a long, drawn-out floor battle like the kind that preceded McCarthy's election earlier this year. Jordan will require near unanimity among Republican members to overcome united Democratic opposition. And they are clashing with what I would describe as the governing wing of the party.
About 31 percent of those voters now have a negative view of Mr. Johnson, compared to 23 percent who hold an unfavorable view of Ms. Greene. As isolated as she appears to be on Capitol Hill, Ms. Greene’s strategy is working for her political brand. In mid-April, Mr. Johnson was more popular with Trump voters than Ms. Greene, according to a poll by The Economist/YouGov.
In a secret ballot after the floor vote, the opposition to Mr. Jordan grew, and 112 Republicans voted to reject him as their party’s candidates for speaker. Representative Nick LaLota, a New York Republican who opposed Mr. Jordan for a second time on Wednesday, told reporters that the latest failed vote “absolutely” served as evidence that the House should explore empowering Mr. McHenry. Jordan, the GOP’s latest nominee for speaker, who lost two rounds of votes this week, had floated the idea of temporarily empowering McHenry while he worked to shore up enough support for his own candidacy, according to three sources. The plan would have empowered McHenry until January, the sources said, allowing legislative business to continue in the face of two wars and a looming government shutdown.
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