Jordan inches closer to speakership, but Republican holdouts remain

WASHINGTON – Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio picked up steam Monday in his bid to become speaker, winning over several of his biggest opponents in the fractured GOP ranks even as deep reservations remained about elevating him to the top post in the House.

Several mainstream Republicans who had said they could not countenance a vote for Jordan, the hard-line co-founder of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, fell into line after a pressure campaign by his right-wing allies and a series of one-on-one calls with him.

Their reversals suggested that Jordan was within striking distance of the 217 votes he would need to be elected in a planned vote around noon Tuesday. But the outcome remained far from certain.

“The role of the speaker is to bring all Republicans together. That’s what I intend to do,” Jordan said in a letter sent to his Republican colleagues on Monday. In it, Jordan acknowledged the deep divisions in the GOP and said he would give more lawmakers input into the party’s agenda.

People close to Jordan said the number of Republican holdouts had shrunk from around 50 to around 10. That is still enough to block his election but he planned to press ahead anyway, counting on his remaining opposition to cave under pressure on the House floor.

Should Jordan, 59, become speaker, it would cap an extraordinary rise in Congress that propelled him from a right-wing rebel on the fringes of his party to the post that is second in line to the presidency.

His ascent would be the clearest indicator yet of how far House Republicans have moved to the right during Jordan’s 16 years in the chamber. It would also show how strong a grip former President Donald Trump, who counts Jordan among his closest allies, has on the party.

A small band of hard-right Republicans, most of whom are supporters of Jordan, forced Kevin McCarthy out as speaker two weeks ago. Then a broader group of Jordan’s supporters refused to back the party’s initial chosen successor for the post, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who abruptly withdrew last week.

The downfalls of McCarthy and Scalise left many mainstream Republicans bitter that the will of a majority in their ranks had not been honored. Several argued that elevating Jordan would reward “bad behavior.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.