Who is Jim Jordan? What can be expected from him as a speaker?

Rep. Jim Jordan received the Republican nomination for Speaker of the House. But he hasn’t got the gavel yet — he still has to win a vote scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Nomination does not automatically mean that he holds the leadership position. In a secret vote at their convention on Friday, 55 House Republicans said they would not cast ballots for Jordan, complicating his path to getting the 217 votes he needs.

As chairman of the council, Jordan, a controversial conservative and favorite of former President Donald Trump, will be second in the presidential line of succession after the vice president.

Who is Jim Jordan?

Jordan, 59, has a reputation as a rabble-rouser who is not afraid to attack Democrats and challenge his party’s leadership.

He was first elected to Congress in 2006, and represents Ohio’s 4th Congressional District, which includes the central part of the state. Before joining Congress, he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1994, and eight years later to the state Senate.

In 2015, Jordan was the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus — a group of conservatives who support hard-line positions on government spending, health care, immigration and other issues.

Over the years, Jordan has built a strong relationship with Trump. After the latter lost the 2020 presidential election, Jordan groundlessly questioned the election results and voted against certifying Trump’s defeat shortly after the January 6 attacks.

Earlier the same day, Trump mentioned Jordan by name on the Ellipse during a speech to his supporters, rallying many who later participated in the riot at the Capitol.

“There are a lot of weak Republicans. We have great Republicans. Jim Jordan and some of those guys, they’re out there fighting,” Trump said.

Jordan later refused to comply with a January 6 House subpoena, leading lawmakers to refer him and a handful of other Republican members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee.

Trump previously presented Jordan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021 — He calls him “An inspiration to freedom-loving Americans everywhere” who “distinguished himself as one of the most important members of Congress of his generation.”

Now, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan is one of the Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden despite a lack of evidence. Biden denies any wrongdoing.

Before his time at Washington, Jordan had success as a wrestler: he was a four-time state champion in wrestling at Graham High School in Ohio and a two-time NCAA wrestling champion while at the University of Wisconsin.

He became an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1986 to 1994. In 2018, three wrestlers on his team accused him of failing to address alleged sexual assault by a team doctor while he was an assistant coach. Jordan has consistently denied the allegations, claiming that he has not witnessed any instances of abuse or received any reports of misconduct from student wrestlers. The university later apologized to the doctor’s victims and reached more than $60 million in settlements with at least 296 people.

During the ordeal, Trump came to Jordan’s defense.

Trump also gave Jordan his full endorsement for the top spot in the House, writing in a social media post last week that he “will be a great speaker.”

Voting record

Jordan has a history of voting conservative and has not been shy about pushing back against other Republicans who disagree with him.

Earlier this year, he supported the debt-reduction deal that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy brokered with Biden, while others in the House Freedom Caucus encouraged Republicans to vote against it.

Jordan did not join his fellow Republicans in their efforts to oust McCarthy as speaker earlier this month.

Jordan has opposed providing additional aid to Ukraine, saying that “the most pressing issue in the minds of Americans is not Ukraine, but the situation on the border and crime in the streets, and everyone knows that.”

Although Jordan has been a member of Congress for 16 years, some of his opponents believe that his legislative experience is lacking.

“House Republicans just elected a nominee for speaker who has not passed a single bill in 16 years in this Congress, because his focus was not on the American people — his focus was on promoting lies and conspiracy theories and creating division among people.” The American People,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries He said in a press conference on Friday.

Jordan has been a hardliner, pressing Republicans for lockdowns — as in 2013, when he supported defunding the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare; In 2015, when it comes to funding Planned Parenthood; And in 2018, with funding for Trump’s border wall.

what are you expecting

Once a speaker is sworn in, he or she is immediately in charge and a banner bearing the new speaker’s name is hung above the door of the speaker’s office in the Capitol.

The new speaker, if elected this week, will have just over a month to advance funding legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown next month, which would have dire consequences for millions of employees and beneficiaries of social services.

Jordan reportedly floated a proposed stopgap measure that would try to pressure the Senate to accept deeper spending cuts — an approach that conservatives had refused to support under McCarthy.

Another top priority is providing aid to Israel after Hamas-led attacks devastated the region and left more than 1,000 people dead in Israel – including Americans – prompting Israel to declare war in response. Jordan told CNN He plans to introduce a resolution to show support for Israel, but it is not yet clear what that will look like.

“[How] “We can help the American people open the House, and we can’t do that until we get a speaker,” Jordan told ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott. [Tuesday] And get back to work for the American people and help our dearest and closest friend, the State of Israel.”