Democrats See Significant Political Upside in a Speaker Jim Jordan (Exclusive)

Democrats, led by the Democratic National Committee, see significant political upside in House Republicans electing conservative Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan as Speaker of the House, even if it could mean difficulty actually legislating.

The House will convene on Tuesday to vote on whether Jordan, a conservative hardliner who has the backing of former President Donald Trump, should be the next speaker of the House. Although it appears that Jordan doesn’t have the needed support right now, he moved closer to the position on Monday when a string of House Republicans who once opposed him announced they would support his elevation to the position. And the Ohio Republican could garner enough support on the floor Tuesday.

For committees and operatives looking to elect Democrats in 2024, Jordan’s promotion could help Democrats to further make the case that former President Donald Trump’s more far-right wing of the party is in full control – and giving them the ability to link all Republicans with Jordan’s support for strict abortion laws, outright denial of the 2020 election results and backing of shutting down the government to enact spending cuts.

Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, laid out this argument in a memo to Democratic surrogates and state parties ahead of the Jordan vote on Tuesday, arguing that Republicans have “heeded Donald Trump’s call” on Jordan and his election would be a “massive electoral liability for Republicans.”

“The choice of Jordan as their next speaker shows that House Republicans are intent on ignoring the issues Americans care about to focus on an extreme right-wing agenda that voters have rejected at the ballot box time and time again,” wrote Cornale. “His election to become Speaker of the House and the face of Republicans in Congress will drag the GOP down nationwide in 2024. “

Cornale and other Democrats have highlighted two Jordan hallmarks that Democrats plan to tie to other Republicans – abortion and election denialism. Both have been featured heavily by Democratic campaigns across the country, including Biden, who launched his campaign with a video that pulled heavily from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and whose campaign has leaned into abortion as a top motivating issue in 2024.

On abortion, Jordan spearheaded the Life at Conception Act in 2013, a bill that “declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being beginning at the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual comes into being.”

And Jordan was one of Congress’ top election deniers, something that has led to reservations from other Republican members of the House. The final report from the January 6th Select Committee said Jordan was a “significant player in President Trump’s efforts,” citing his participation in “numerous post-election meetings in which senior White House officials, Rudolph Giuliani, and others, discussed strategies for challenging the election – chief among them claims that the election had been tainted by fraud.” The report also noted Jordan’s role in leading a conference call in January 2021 where Trump and other members of Congress discussed delaying the certification of the election by Congress.

The most direct political impact for Republicans, however, could be in House races. Because Republicans only hold a narrow majority in the legislative body, every House race across the country will be critical to who controls the body in 2025. Democrats are already gearing up to link Jordan and his views on abortion and the 2020 election with candidates nationwide, especially in races for districts that Republican House candidates won in 2022 but that Biden carried two years earlier.

Viet Shelton, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said electing Jordan was “hand-delivering the DCCC content for campaign ads ahead of next year but, more importantly, they are doing a grave disservice to their country.”

A spokesperson for the National Republican Campaign Committee did not respond to The Messenger’s request for comment.

This strategy of running campaigns against Jordan mimics what Republicans tried to do when Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House. Republicans spent millions tying Democrats to her, a strategy that helped Republican House candidates fundraise and hurt Democrats in more right-leaning districts.

Democrats now hope to do the same with Jordan, a well-known Republican boogeyman on the left because of his role in providing oversight on the Biden administration in Congress.

“He is an easy foil,” Curtis Hertel, a Democrat expected to face Republican Tom Barrett in central Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, told The Messenger.

“I don't think a clearer line could be drawn,” Hertel said of Barrett, a Republican who signed a letter in 2021 calling for Congress to delay electoral certification, a central plank on the party’s election denialism around Trump’s loss. “We were going to point out our opponent's history of trying to take away the results of Michigan already, but this certainly presents a much clearer line and it is a sign that the chaos of what is happening in Washington will not stop with a Jim Jordan speakership.”

Barrett responded to Hertel by calling him a "22-year politician" who is "predictably focused on Washington DC gamesmanship."

"Michiganders would like to know what we are going to do about record high inflation and gas prices, higher crime rates, securing our southern border, and why we are giving taxpayer money to China," he added.

Hertel is far from the only candidate eying a Jordan speakership as a political foil.

When California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert announced Monday that he would support Jordan as speaker, his likely opponent in 2024, Democrat Will Rollins, said the decision “made it clear to Californians that he doesn’t have the spine to stand up against the extreme MAGA agenda, which has officially taken control of the House of Representatives.” Rollins lost to Calvert in 2022 but is angling for a 2024 rematch in the Palm Springs area district.

House Majority Forward, the issue advocacy arm of the top Democratic super PAC supporting House candidates, announced Monday that they would launch robocalls in 11 districts urging Republicans to oppose Jordan. These Republicans include Reps. David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani in Arizona and Reps. Nick LaLota, George Santos, Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, and Brandon Williams in New York – all Republicans in Biden-won districts.

"If vulnerable House Republicans want to further embrace the extremist MAGA agenda by voting for Jim Jordan,” said group spokesperson CJ Warnke, spokesperson, “House Majority PAC welcomes it with open arms and we will take back the House in 2024.”