Who is Jim Jordan, the Ohio representative endorsed by Donald Trump to become the next House speaker?
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has received Donald Trump’s endorsement to become Speaker of the House. A look back at his career in Ohio and Washington...
After briefly considering making his own bid for Speaker of the House, former president Donald Trump endorsed Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan for the job late last week.
Posting from his account on Truth Social, Trump said that Jordan, if elected, “will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”
The other candidate in the race, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, has pitched his campaign for Speaker on his ten years of experience as a member of the House leadership team. In their political outlook, Jordan and Scalise do not differ much. Both are anti-abortion, oppose the legality of same-sex marriage at the federal level, reject the scientific consensus on climate change, and like most Republicans, they both oppose the Affordable Care Act. Scalise has also been a staunch supporter of the former president but could not attract his endorsement. With the debate over who will become the next Speaker expected to begin on Tuesday, only time will tell if Trump’s support of Jordan will help him attract enough moderates to secure his bid for Speaker.
A look at Jim Jordan’s career
The nine-term congressman representing Ohio’s fourth congressional district, Jim Jordan, currently sits as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, one of Congress’s most important committees.
Along with eight other Republicans, Jordan founded the Freedom Caucus in 2014 and served as the group’s first leader until 2017. Ideologically, the Freedom Caucus is a right-wing group of legislatures whose roots can be traced to the Tea Party movement, which called for a reduction in the size and spending of the federal government. The Freedom Caucus also promotes policy that upholds values associated with social conservatism, which alienates more moderate members of the GOP.
Jordan’s political career started early. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1994 at the ripe age of thirty and then moved on to the Ohio Senate, where he served from 2000 to 2006 before making his way to Washington, DC. Though he attended law school, Jordan never took the bar and instead worked as the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1987 to 1995. There, he worked with team physician Richard Strauss, who was accused of a decades-long sexual abuse scandal.