New York Republicans could decide Jim Jordan’s speaker bid – Spectrum News NY1

Rep. Jim Jordan is starting to chip away at the opposition, as he looks to secure the votes needed to become speaker of the House.

If he wins the gavel, though, the Ohio conservative could be a political liability for New York Republicans representing districts President Joe Biden won in 2020.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is already previewing how his party could use Jordan to attack the GOP ahead of the 2024 elections.

“House Republicans have selected as their nominee to be the speaker of the people’s House: the chairman of the chaos caucus, a defender in a dangerous way of dysfunction and an extremist extraordinaire,” Jeffries told reporters Friday.

Jordan co-founded the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus. He helped lead the effort to object to the 2020 election results, and also defied a subpoena from the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

A staunch ally and defender of former President Donald Trump, Jordan currently chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which is one of the panels leading the impeachment inquiry into Biden.

Republicans in these frontline districts may want to back Jordan “just to get past the chaos of the moment,” said Casey Burgat, the director of the Legislative Affairs program at George Washington University.

However, Burgat said that “we will quickly turn the page and then you’re going to have to defend him and his tactics and his strategies for how he leads the Republican Party within the House.”

Jordan’s skill as a “flame thrower,” he said, could prove exhausting for voters “who want to move on past the rancor.”

So far, some of New York’s frontline Republicans appear open to voting for Jordan.

Embattled Congressman George Santos is endorsing him.

Rep. Marc Molinaro has told reporters he has no objection to Jordan getting the gavel.

“This place is filled with people who have done things that many people don’t want to have done, but at the end of the day, will they legislate? Will they give the upstate New Yorkers I represent the opportunity to govern, the opportunity to be heard and the opportunity to have their needs addressed? That’s my threshold,” Molinaro said Friday.

Meanwhile, Politico obtained audio of Rep. Mike Lawler telling a constituent this weekend that “if [Jordan] has the votes, I’ll probably just vote for him because I’m not gonna be a cog in the wheel.”

On Monday, Lawler clarified in an interview with CNN that he is not a “hell no” on Jordan, but it is his intention to vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Spokespersons for Reps. Brandon Williams, Anthony D’Esposito and Nick LaLota did not respond to requests for comment about the speaker’s election by deadline.

Given the Republican’s narrow majority, Jordan can only afford to lose a handful of GOP votes.