Republican congressman Jim Jordan This Friday he got a second chance when his party chose him as a candidate to lead the United States House of Representatives (US), a position that has been vacant since his fellow conservative Kevin McCarthy was dismissed on October 3.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee ran in the previous internal vote, which he won Steve Scalisebut the latter’s resignation on Thursday reopened the race, with Jordan winning 124 votes over Austin Scott, who got 81.
In the last vote, on Wednesday, Scalise got 113 votes and Jordan 99, but that narrow margin expected the former to struggle and decided to withdraw when he noticed that in the last vote of the plenary session of the Baja House not get the necessary 217 support of his colleagues.
Scalise is no guarantee of favor with the most radical wing of the partythe same one that sponsored the motion against McCarthy, presented by Matt Gaetz.
When the race between Scalise and Jordan, the latter got the public support of the former president Donald Trump (2017-2021). In 2021, while still in the White House, Trump awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for being one of his greatest allies in Congress.
The former president later admitted that although he wanted both, Scalise, who is undergoing treatment for blood cancer, should focus on his health instead of trying to be SPEAKERthe name by which that position is known in English.
Jordan59 years old and representative of Ohio’s fourth district, maintains that he made the move to run for election convinced that we need someone who can “carry the team” and that he is the right person to heal the rift between radical and moderate Republicans and then fulfill the promises made to the American people.
In that mandate at the end he also promised to protect the moderates and not put them in difficult situations, unlike McCarthy, who was forced to make concessions in the face of the pressures that the most radical demanded of him.
After his nomination, a new phase of negotiations was opened in which he must try to guarantee 217 votes within his caucus before submitting his candidacy to the vote of the entire chamber.
The Democrats chose their House leader, Hakeem Jeffrieswho in January also ran for president of the institution, at that time against McCarthy.
The interim leadership is now held by the conservatives Patrick McHenrybut until something new SPEAKER New resolutions or bills cannot be passed at a time when budgets for the current fiscal year must be closed and additional aid to Ukraine or Israel is awaiting approval.
