One of the leading newspapers in Ohio on Saturday published a strong rebuke of Representative Jim Jordan in a letter to the editor, as the congressman emerges as a leading contender for Speaker of the House.
On Tuesday, Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, became the first House speaker in United States history to be ousted from office via a motion to vacate. The motion had been raised by Representative Matt Gaetz, a MAGA-aligned Florida Republican, after McCarthy worked with House Democrats to pass a stopgap spending bill last week to temporarily avert a government shutdown, after weeks of the House GOP’s further-right flank stalling the process with calls for steep spending cuts.
Since then, a handful of Republican lawmakers have stepped forward to seek the office, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jordan of Ohio. The latter has received a major endorsement from former President Donald Trump. The House GOP is set to gather on Wednesday for an internal election to decide who they will put forward as their candidate for speaker. Democrats are expected to put forward House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
In response to Jordan’s emergence as a major candidate for speaker, The Columbus Dispatch, the Buckeye State’s second-biggest newspaper behind The Plain Dealer, published a letter to the editor titled, “Electing Jim Jordan speaker would be a catastrophe for America.”
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“With Trump’s endorsement, I am assuming Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, will win,” reader Randal Morrison of Columbus wrote. “That is a catastrophe for America. There is no worse human being to have a leadership position than Jim Jordan. Terrible for policy — Ukraine, the economy, the planet, and justice for those not like him.”
The letter continued: “It would be terrible for ‘process’ — the end of civility and finding a problem-solving path forward as well as strong democratic institutions. That catastrophe ultimately means one of two things: either all hope is lost or the resulting turmoil breaks the MAGA fever before it is too late. Because of our constitutional structural vulnerabilities, I fear the worst.”
Newsweek reached out to Jordan’s office via email for comment.
Jordan has represented Ohio’s 4th District since 2007. Since Republicans took control of the House in January, he has also served as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, where he has spearheaded various investigations into President Joe Biden and his family members that have been criticized by some for not producing any firm evidence of wrongdoing.
His speaker candidacy has drawn the support of a handful of prominent House Republicans, including Gaetz, who has characterized Jordan as his mentor. It has also drawn harsh criticism from Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“[Jordan] is one of the principal ringleaders of the circus that’s been created in the Republican Party for the last several years…when you look at the extremists in the House they certainly don’t represent a majority of the country and somebody has to stand up and say ‘enough,'” she said in an interview with CNN on Thursday.