Washington, Oct 17(IANS) Election denier and right winger Republican Congressman Jim Jordan is working hard under ex-President Donald Trump’s shadow to garner the 217 votes required to win the Speaker’s gavel when the House of Representatives goes in for yet another vote on Tuesday after Steve Scalise failed to win support to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“We think we’re going to get 217,” Jordan said even as he knows pretty well the Republicans hold a slim majority of three seats in the House and any Republican holdouts could cause him to fail.
Several Republicans have publicly said they remain ‘No’ votes on Jordan’s Speakership. Mike Rogers of Alabama and John Rutherford and Carlos Gimenez of Florida are in this group, according to Politico.
The right-wing Congressman, a strong ally of Trump, is seeking to shore up support for his bid for speakership, scheduling an appearance on the House floor early this week to influence Republican members who have clearly indicated in a secret ballot vote they will not support him.
Jordan claimed in a brief interview with Politico he believes he will get the 217 votes required to secure the speakership in a vote now set to happen on Tuesday at noon. Former House Speaker McCarthy is to support Jordan’s bid to succeed him after a small fraction of eight Republicans under Floridan Gaetz in the House joined Democrats to oust him and plunged the party into utter chaos. McCarthy had sought the Democrat votes earlier to prevent a Republican shutdown of Congress over budget legislation to fund federal agencies.
The ghost of a shutdown returns on November 17 when the 45 day deadline extension given by McCarthy before his ouster expires.
What if Jim Jordan fails to get the 217 votes to win, yet another potential Republican candidate in Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson has emerged as he plans to jump into the race if Jordan stumbles, according to NBC News.
“If Jordan cannot get to 217, Johnson intends to step up,” a source told the television network. “Many members are asking him to do so.”
“Johnson would seek to be a consensus candidate, attempting to bridge hard-right conservatives and moderates who have been waging a war against one another.”
Trump has vocally supported Jordan for the speakership role. The stalemate has halted legislative business that includes a bill to provide military and humanitarian aid to both Israel in the Hamas war and Ukraine in the Russian war.
Jordan’s supporters have taken to the social media asking followers to call Republican holdouts to demand they support Jordan’s bid or face ousting efforts of their own in primaries. That is a hard-line tactic that has prompted some dismay even among Jordan’s own supporters, media reports said .
Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw slammed some of his fellow Republicans for an online pressure campaign on behalf of Jordan, saying it would likely put people off backing him. “That is the dumbest way to support Jordan but I’m supporting Jordan. I’m going to vote for Jordan. And as somebody who wants Jim Jordan, the dumbest thing you can do is to continue pissing off those people and entrench them,” Crenshaw told CNN’s State of the Union show.
Democrats are wary over Jordan’s Speakership bid, as they cite the congressman’s role leading up to the January 6 insurrection. “House Republicans are intent on doubling down and have chosen to nominate a vocal election-denier in Jim Jordan,” Congressman Pete Aguilar, chair of the Democratic caucus, told reporters.
He is “a man whose rhetoric and partisanship fomented the January 6 attack on this very building, on these very steps.”
Crenshaw, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, was probed by host Jake Tapper on his support for Jordan’s bid to be elected House Speaker. Some Republicans, Tapper reminded Crenshaw, are wary of Jordan, given his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election to benefit President Trump.
“He defied the congressional subpoena” from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, Tapper said, “and he was trying to get (Vice President Mike) Pence to overturn the electoral votes.” “But a lot of them did that,” Crenshaw replied, with a chuckle. “If I held that grudge, I wouldn’t have friends in the Republican conference, because a lot of them did that.”
