Congressional Republicans have all the key ingredients needed to replace Speaker of the House Paul Ryan with a principled conservative leader like Rep. Jim Jordan:
· A likable candidate with seniority and conservative credibility
· A House Freedom Caucus growing in influence and willing to take on the status quo
· A grassroots-driven demand for change
· A Republican electorate looking for a reason to show up in 2018
The only thing missing is Jordan himself, who has yet to announce his candidacy.
In the meantime, a “Draft Jordan” campaign is gaining muscle nationwide. The mere possibility of a Jordan speakership campaign earned unanimous support from the FreedomWorks Activist Advisory Council, a coalition of top grassroots leaders from across the country.
It also received endorsements from Fox News host Sean Hannity and approximately 100 fiscally conservative leaders and influencers. More than 27,500 FreedomWorks activists voiced their own support through petition signatures, phone calls, and digital messages to Congress.
All this excitement, and Jordan isn’t even trying yet. With this level of early momentum, imagine the floodgate of support that would open after a formal announcement.
Predictably, the swamp establishment is scoffing at the idea of a challenger to Ryan’s likely successor, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. They’re urging Republicans to delay a speakership vote until after the midterms, insisting the debate would be an “unwelcome distraction” from their 2018 legislative agenda.
Are they sure about that?
In the past few months, Republicans rushed a $1.3 trillion spending bill through Congress, sent the federal government on a path toward trillion-dollar deficits as early as 2020, and had the audacity to take a “show vote” on a balanced budget amendment shortly thereafter.
A distraction from this legislative abomination might not be such a bad idea after all.
Sarcasm aside, let’s not pretend the GOP establishment’s rhetoric matches their political intentions. Incumbent Republicans are hoping to ride the wave of tax reform into November and counting on the electorate to forget about the rest. They fear an open speakership debate will drag their records of big spending and disdain for regular order into the sunlight for all to see.
Republican leadership isn’t delaying the speakership vote out of prudence. They are delaying the vote out of self-preservation.
Unfortunately, like most of the Republican Party’s political instincts, this strategy is dangerously off-base. If House leadership waits to hold a vote until after Ryan steps down in January, there will be no Republican majority left to lead.
A recent poll conducted by the Ear to the Ground Listening Project found only 6 percent of likely voters across the political spectrum believe Republicans will keep their campaign promises. The first wave of special elections and primaries this midterm cycle have demonstrated a worrisome enthusiasm gap among GOP voters.
Honestly, can you blame them? Republicans have made a habit of ignoring the will of the people. Every election cycle, they lecture voters on legislative priorities that are promptly forgotten once wheels touch down at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
In 2012, Republican Party “strategists” released a 100-page autopsy report attempting to make sense of an electoral shellacking that could have been prevented in 10 simple words: Be bold. Put principle over politics. Vote like a Republican.
These guiding principles are the reason why the House Freedom Caucus, of which Jordan is a founding member, continues to grow with every election cycle, regardless of the status of the Republican majority.
Now, six years later, the GOP still has not learned its lesson.
If Republican Party “strategists” took a moment to genuinely listen to the GOP base, they would quickly learn voters are hungry for congressional leadership that keeps its promises. They would learn that in the age of social media, citizens activists will no longer allow deal-makers the luxury of choosing their leadership behind closed doors.
They would discover that tens of thousands of likely GOP voters have already put House Republicans on notice that a vote to do nothing until after the election is a vote for a Democratic majority.
Protecting the Republican majority is not motivation enough. The most active voting bloc of the GOP, fiscal conservatives, needs to know its leadership is committed to a 2019 legislative agenda worth showing up for.
On behalf of Republican voters nationwide looking for a reason to get off the couch in November, the clock is ticking. The sooner Jordan gets into the race, the better.
Adam Brandon (@adam_brandon) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is president and CEO of FreedomWorks.
