This Tuesday, the House was… trying to seat a new Speaker for the chamber after the forced departure from the role two weeks prior of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Little has been accomplished in the legislative chamber in the time since, as Republicans have — pushing aside possibilities of a bipartisan arrangement with Democrats — struggled to assemble the support needed to put a contender over the top on their own.
The initial GOP pick was Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who failed to get the votes needed for a win in the first round of consideration Tuesday. Democrats united in their opposition to Jordan, whose clearly established record aligns him with some of the most extreme approaches to governing inside the GOP. First-term Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) condemned Jordan’s record in a lengthy statement as voting approached.
“In this moment of international crisis, House Republicans have advanced a candidate for Speaker of the House, Congressman Jim Jordan, who has openly championed overturning the 2020 election and fanned the flames of insurrection that killed five people and undermined faith in our democracy at home and abroad. Jim Jordan is professionally and morally unqualified and unfit for the Speakership,” the Democrat asserted.
She cited examples including Jordan’s work as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to essentially run interference for Trump amid his various criminal cases and his troubling refusal to acknowledge what many have asserted was his obvious knowledge of persistent sexual abuse by a doctor for students at a university where Jordan coached.
After Jordan lost the first round of voting on Tuesday, the path forward wasn’t clear. Jordan, though, who Democrats also accused of supporting abortion restrictions without even an exception for the life of the pregnant person, received the support of many Republicans who might be seriously politically vulnerable come 2024. Democratic groups already indicated they were preparing to use these votes for Jordan in upcoming campaigning.
