House Speaker Race Heats Up–Jim Jordan Scores Heavyweight Endorsement

As he strives to get enough votes to become the next Speaker of the House, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) got key support from a powerful Republican.

It was a major step when House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) indicated this week that he would endorse Jordan. Rogers had allegedly stated this past week that he couldn’t be persuaded to support Jordan.

“Jordan and I were able to have two pleasant, thoughtful, and useful talks in the last two days. We both agreed that Congress needed to enact a strong NDAA, appropriations to provide funding for the most important parts of our government, along with other important bills like the Farm Bill,” Rogers wrote to X.

“As a result, I made the choice to endorse Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House on the legislative floor,” Rogers said. “Ever since I first got elected to the House, I’ve always worked with others and backed what most Republicans agree with. Our Republican majority is going to become stronger if we work together to defeat President Biden’s dangerous plans for America.”

Rogers was thanked for his support by Jordan.

Jordan also said, “Your leadership is exactly what our Conference requires right now. Let’s keep working together.”

Jordan, who is the head of the Judiciary Committee, won the Republican Party’s nod this week, his second attempt. He beat Representative Austin Scott (R-GA) by a vote of 124 to 81 in the Republican conference. Republicans voted 152 to 55 in favor of Jordan in a second secret ballot that asked members if they would back him in a House floor vote.

Similar to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), the party’s first choice who withdrew this past week, Jordan will have a hard time getting enough support to win a vote for speaker by the whole house.

Democrats want to form a coalition to choose a new speaker. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) proposed that rules should be changed “to facilitate bipartisanship.” However, Jake Sherman, the co-founder of Punchbowl News, stated that Rogers’ “massive” support for Jordan shows that the Ohio Republican may easily take the gavel by garnering only GOP votes.

“If Jordan is only about 10 votes away from winning, Mike Rogers’ support brings to light a very important factor in this race for speaker: it is his to lose. “After that, it will be hard to stop him from becoming speaker,” Sherman added. “If he is 30 away, things change completely.”

It is anticipated that the House will vote on a speaker selection as soon as this week, which would come just two weeks since eight Republicans and Democrats voted to unseat Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the position. McCarthy said that he now backs Jordan. Trump, who used to be president, has also backed Jordan for speaker.