During the race for House speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) faced opposition from some House Republicans who were concerned about having someone who denied the 2020 election results in such a powerful position. Jordan, who withdrew his nomination after his third defeat, was an outspoken advocate for the idea that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. He even refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which uncovered evidence of his involvement in activities leading up to the attack.
Although Jordan’s role in the election denial and the events of Jan. 6 were not the main reasons why some Republicans voted against his bid for speaker, a few lawmakers expressed concerns about his continued refusal to accept Joe Biden as the legitimate winner of the election.
The issue of election denialism has been a divisive one within the Republican Party, even after several election-denying candidates suffered losses in the 2022 midterms.
Out of the lawmakers who expressed interest in filling the speaker vacancy, only Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) certified the 2020 election results. Others, like Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Kevin Hern (R-Fla.), Mike Johnson (R-La.), and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), objected to the certification. Some staffers who served on the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 drew parallels between the tactics used to promote false claims of election fraud in 2020 and the pressure campaign against Jordan’s detractors.
During a closed-door conference meeting, when asked whether he believed Trump won the 2020 election, Jordan declined to answer directly. This lack of clarity disappointed some lawmakers who felt that Jordan could not give a straightforward response to a simple question.
In his last-minute news conference before withdrawing from the speaker race, Jordan still did not definitively state whether he believed the election was over. He mentioned that there were problems with the election but did not provide any evidence. Multiple judges, including nearly 90 in the Washington Post analysis, ruled against Trump’s attempts to challenge or overturn the election results.
Some lawmakers, like Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), believe that if Jordan wants to lead the conference during a presidential election year, he needs to be clear that Trump did not win the election.
Jordan played a significant role in spreading unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud before and after the 2020 election. He was a key figure in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results, speaking at “Stop the Steal” rallies and meeting with Trump campaign officials prior to Jan. 6.
Committee investigators discovered White House records showing that Jordan spoke with Trump on the morning of the Jan. 6 attack. However, the details of their conversation remain undisclosed.
Since Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted as speaker, the House GOP conference has experienced many divisions. Some of Jordan’s detractors were also among those who objected to certifying Biden’s victory. However, most of them voted in favor of certification. These lawmakers have faced credible threats of violence, some of which have been attributed to similar tactics used to incite the Capitol rioters.
Lisa Bianco, a former House staffer who worked for the Jan. 6 committee, argues that Jordan’s allies are following the same playbook used during the “Stop the Steal” efforts in 2020. Amy Kremer, co-founder of Women for Trump and an organizer of the rally preceding the Jan. 6 insurrection, has been organizing “JordanForSpeaker” rallies and encouraging supporters to call lawmakers’ offices in support of Jordan.
Jordan has condemned the threats against Republicans who oppose his bid for speaker. However, some lawmakers, like Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), blame Jordan for the toxic pressure campaign.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), who chaired the Jan. 6 committee, sees Jordan’s potential rise to speaker as a negative development for Congress and the Republican Party, given his refusal to accept the election results and his obstruction of the committee’s work.
