Ohio rep. Jim Jordan may have permanently damaged his standing with the GOP, even if he does manage to get elected as House speaker, according to a political expert.
Jordan has already failed in two attempts to replace rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker, after he couldn’t get enough support from House Republicans to get the 217 votes needed on the floor, and there is no clear indication the MAGA congressman will be able to flip enough defectors to back him in future votes.
A number of GOP lawmakers have come out and said they have no intention of voting for the hardline congressman to become speaker, with others condemning the apparent strong-arm intimidation tactics from Jordan and his allies used to get them to back him for the position, which is second in line for the presidency.
On Wednesday, after Jordan lost the second ballot by an even greater margin than the first, with 22 GOP lawmakers backing someone else, Jordan condemned the “abhorrent” threats made against House Republicans who didn’t support him. These include alleged “credible” death threats against Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and anonymous calls and texts sent to the wife of Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska.
SAMUEL CORUM/AFP/Getty Images
One of the messages sent to Angie Bacon reportedly said that if her husband didn’t support Jordan for House speaker then the Nebraska congressman would “not hold any political office ever again.”
David B. Cohen, a professor of political science at the University of Akron in Ohio, suggested that even if Jordan manages to get the near unanimous backing of House Republicans needed to get the 217 votes, it’s unlikely he will be able to heal the fractures within the GOP.
“It is doubtful that Jordan will be able to unite the GOP caucus in the House,” Cohen told Newsweek. “There will be a lot of hard feelings should he be elected as more centrist Republicans will have been bludgeoned into submission to reluctantly cast their vote for a colleague they disdain, all in the name of party unity, but really as a result of the threat of what will happen to them politically if they should cause the vote to fail.”
Cohen, who described Jordan as a political “show horse” because of the Republican’s failure to get any bills passed or approved during his 16-year congressional career, added that the combative lawmaker may not be suitable for the role of House speaker during this vital time for the U.S. government, both domestically and abroad.
“The U.S. is now supporting two allies engaged in immense military conflicts in Ukraine and Israel—and military aide to both countries first on the legislative agenda,” Cohen said. “And the clock is ticking loudly as the continuing resolution will expire next month and the country is facing yet another federal government shutdown. In normal times with a normal speaker, those challenges would be hard enough.”
Jordan’s office has been contacted for comment via email.
There is expected to be a third House speaker vote on Friday, with Jordan meeting with some of the 20-odd Republicans who have already said they won’t back him. Several are still indicating they will not changing their minds.
Florida Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez, who has twice voted for McCarthy to return to the role he was historically ousted from, told reporters on Thursday: “We’re still in the same spot. He doesn’t have the votes to be speaker.”
When asked by CNN why he is continuing his House speaker bid despite not having a path to the required 217 votes, Jordan noted that his predecessor needed 15 rounds of ballots in January before he was finally elected.
“We continue to talk with colleagues, we feel good about those discussions. The key is we need to get to a speaker as soon as possible,” he said.
“Speaker McCarthy had a several month runway before the vote. Then when the vote happened, it was a whole week.
“So we want to get there as quickly as we can,” Jordan added. “And we’ll continue to talk to our colleagues.”