Who is the Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan?
Jim Jordan failed to win a majority of GOP votes in the race for Speaker of the House on Tuesday. A look at the Ohio Congressman’s career in Washington..
Another round of voting has taken place in the race for Speaker of the House took place on Tuesday, and once again, no candidate was able to secure a majority. The GOP’s candidate this round, Representative Jim Jordan (OH), lost twenty votes from within his party, which was more than the four that he could afford to lose. Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (NY) received 212 votes, five shy of what he would need to take the gavel in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Rep. Jordan, which has given him a boost of support, with many in the Republican party unwilling to confront their party’s current 2024 frontrunner. 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, dropped out last week. Some within the GOP had hoped that with only one candidate, the caucus would be able to coalesce around Rep. Jordan. However, more moderate members of the party have their reservations about casting a ballot for a founding member of the Freedom Caucus —one of the most right-wing factions of the chamber.
Rep. Jordan opposes the legality of same-sex marriage at the federal level, abortion rights, rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, and, like most Republicans, opposes the Affordable Care Act. The Ohio leader currently sits as the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, one of the most powerful committees.
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.
Rep. 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.