The effort to draft Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to run for speaker of the House continues.
More than 100 conservative leaders have signed a letter calling on the Freedom Caucus founder to make a run for the speaker’s gavel. Grass-roots heavyweights like Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots and Ed Meese of the Heritage Foundation are backing the move to rid the party of what they describe as “wishy-washy, double dealing” among top GOP brass.
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“There must be a real race for Speaker of the House. Now. No backroom deals. A real race, starting this spring, to make every incumbent and candidate commit on the record, as a campaign issue, whether they’ll vote to save the Swamp or drain it,” the letter reads.
More than the usual posturing, the letter has merited urgency. It comes as rumors swirl that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is trying to push Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., out of the speaker’s office early. According to one Weekly Standard report, that plan is being entertained openly in some circles and has even reached the desk of President Trump.
Ryan giving up the speaker’s gavel before the midterms would give McCarthy an even bigger leg up over Jordan and Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., if either make a run. The grassroots coalition wants to keep that from happening.
Arithmetic and the current ideological make-up of the Republican conference make a Jordan speakership highly unlikely. But if Jordan can’t win, like I wrote last month, Jordan can at least make sure McCarthy loses or makes key concessions.
The Freedom Caucus thrives at playing spoiler, and they catapulted to prominence in the fall of 2015 by scalping Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, before hamstringing McCarthy, his heir-apparent. They know they can do it again. And while they probably won’t find a better compromise candidate like they did in Ryan, the Freedom Caucus could use the fight to install some of their members in lower leadership positions.
The letter is part of that larger ideological fight, and the fact that conservatives are putting together a coalition early shows that the fight won’t end quickly.
