WASHINGTON ― Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is the first Republican to declare his candidacy for speaker of the House after the shocking ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday.
Jordan asked his Republican colleagues for their support in a letter on Wednesday lambasting federal spending and “blatant double standards in federal law enforcement,” a reference to the supposed persecution of former President Donald Trump.
Though Jordan is the first Republican to make it official, other lawmakers, most notably Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), have signaled they will also seek the speaker’s gavel.
Both Scalise and Jordan are well-respected by their colleagues. Scalise has served as majority leader, McCarthy’s top lieutenant. Jordan chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where he has led Republicans in their campaign against the phantom “weaponization of government” by President Joe Biden against his political opponents.
Jordan did not say in his letter how he might manage the fractious Republican conference. A small number of far-right lawmakers forced McCarthy out after he kept the federal government open by passing a bill with Democratic votes ― a cardinal sin to the anti-McCarthy faction even though there’s no other way to keep the government open given Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, which is a coequal partner in the legislative process.
McCarthy won the speakership partly by making promises to his colleagues and agreeing to change House rules so that a single lawmaker could trigger a snap no-confidence vote in his speakership. That’s how Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) initiated McCarthy’s downfall this week.
“I do not think, regardless of who the speaker is, that you should have that rule,” McCarthy said after his ouster.