After the historic ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Republicans are, once again, in the market for a new Speaker of the House.
While a list of nominees has been put forth, including, heaven help us, Donald Trump, one frontrunner seems to be emerging: Ohio Representative Jim Jordan.
Jim Jordan Steps Up
Jordan officially announced his bid to replace former Speaker McCarthy today.
Jordan has gained notoriety since he headed up the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government earlier this year. Republicans allege that the government has been unfairly weaponized against conservatives.
In his opening statements for the committee Jordan stated, “”A ploy? It’s not a ploy when the Department of Justice treats parents as terrorists, moms and dads who are simply showing up at a school board meeting to advocate for their son or daughter.”
He continued, “A ploy? It’s not a ploy when the FBI pays Twitter $3 million, not one, not two, but $3 million to censor American citizens. It’s not a ploy when the Department of Homeland Security tries to set up a disinformation governance board because we all know that the Department of Homeland Security can tell what’s good speech and what is bad speech.”
“You got to be kidding me. I’ll tell you what. Dozens of whistleblowers [who] have come talk to Republican staff on the Judiciary Committee don’t think this is a ploy.”
The former wrestling champion and coach was the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee from 2019 to 2020. He vacated that position to become the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, of which he became chair in 2023.
“[Mr. Jordan] is someone who has built a reputation as an attack dog, someone who is media savvy, someone who is a stalwart supporter of [former President Donald Trump] and who has the skill necessary to take the lead for the GOP,” said Capri Cafaro, a former Democratic Ohio state representative and now an executive in residence at American University, in 2019.
Jordan Will Face Battles from Within and Without
Although Jordan is one of the founding members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, serving as its first chair from 2015 to 2017, and as its vice chair since 2017, he voted to keep McCarthy as Speaker.
The Freedom Caucus has been responsible for much of the upheaval in the Republican party in the past four years, but many refrained from ousting McCarthy including some of its most notorious members such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.
But Jordan is not afraid to engage in battle, which may serve the Republican party well as it faces increasing pressure from not only Democrats, but also from its own members.
Jordan has already received endorsements from fellow members of his caucus including Matt Goetz, the Florida representative responsible for leading the charge against McCarthy.
On Tuesday, Goetz tweeted, “My mentor Jim Jordan would be great!”
Jordan Receives Support from Top Republicans
Thomas Massie, the representative from Kentucky, seconded the motion tweeting, “I support Jim Jordan for Speaker.”
Representative Darrell Issa from California joined the love fest, tweeting, “I’m taking off my jacket and rolling up my sleeves to help Jim Jordan become our next Speaker,” as well as, “We face difficult challenges, but the choice is clear: We need Jim Jordan as our next Speaker of the House.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also endorsed Jordan’s bid, charging that the Ohio firebrand “knows how to fight back” against the radical Democrats.
“Jim Jordan knows exactly how radical today’s Democrats are, and he knows how to fight back,” Banks said in an exclusive interview to Breitbart.
“He’s a proven conservative, and he has my support for speaker.”
While many have spoken up in favor of Jordan, more moderate members of the party consider Jordan a non-starter.
But Jordan seems confident he can reconcile the warring factions.
“We need to unite the conference, I think I can do that and my colleagues who reached out to me seem to think the same thing,” Jordan said.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor and opinion writer for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics, and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
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