Jim Jordan, longtime critic of top US House Republicans, grasps at gavel
By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Republican Jim Jordan, founder of a hardline U.S. House caucus that a former Republican speaker derided as «legislative terrorists,» on Friday was nominated by his party to take the top spot, testing whether a longtime critic can lead the restive caucus.
Jordan, 59, was nominated for the role — second in line to the U.S. presidency after the vice president — after eight House Republicans, with the support of Democrats, voted his predecessor Kevin McCarthy out of leadership in a historic first and heir-apparent Steve Scalise dropped his bid.
It became clear on Thursday that Scalise would not win the support of 217 of the 221 House Republicans, and it was not clear if Jordan would do better.
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, backed Jordan just days after McCarthy's ouster. Jordan was one of Trump's most vocal defenders when he was impeached twice during his 2017-21 term.
Jordan was first elected in 2006 to represent a deeply conservative rural district in northern Ohio and is a founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, a group that former Republican Speaker John Boehner labeled «legislative terrorists.»
While McCarthy was the first House speaker formally voted out of leadership by his colleagues, his two Republican predecessors Boehner and Paul Ryan also resigned under pressure from their right flanks.
Jordan's elevation to speaker illustrates the narrow 221-212 Republican majority's rightward shift over the past decade but could also test his ability to hold together a majority that can afford to lose just four votes on any measure that Democrats unite in opposition to.
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