DCCC circulates anti-Jordan talking points to House Democrats ahead of speaker election

Democrats are circulating a memo containing anti-Jim Jordan (R-OH) talking points just hours before lawmakers are set to vote on whether to elect the Judiciary chairman as its next House speaker.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began circulating the memo on Tuesday morning containing a number of talking points to use against Jordan when his nomination comes up for a full floor vote in the afternoon. The missive comes as Democrats have increasingly called on their GOP colleagues to present a bipartisan speaker nominee, decrying Jordan as an “extremist.”

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“A Speaker Jordan means extremism and far-right priorities will govern the House of Representatives,” the memo states. “It is imperative that our caucus makes clear to voters just how extreme Congressman Jordan is and how his Speakership would negatively impact working families across the country, threaten democratic norms, and weaken relationships with our allies.”

The memo presses Democrats to use Jordan’s nomination and possible speakership as evidence that “there are no more moderates left in the Republican conference” who are willing to stand up against “GOP extremism.” Additionally, Democrats are seeking to tie any Republicans who vote for Jordan to Donald Trump, arguing the GOP conference is doing the bidding of the former president by nominating his close ally in the House.

Democrats also accused Jordan of being a far-right Republican who would pull the conference further to the right rather than promote bipartisanship. The memo pointed to Jordan’s experience as the founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, which is generally considered to be the most conservative caucus in the chamber.

The memo lists eight “key examples” that Democrats say are proof of Jordan’s extremism, pointing to his voting history on a number of key policy issues as well as his vote to overturn the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

“The DCCC is committed to ensuring that every battleground Member of the Republican conference who stands and votes for a Speaker Jordan will be making a career ending move,” the memo states.

The memo comes just hours before the House is set to reconvene for the first time in two weeks to elect its new speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted earlier this month. Jordan won the GOP nomination during a closed-door meeting with party members last week, and the Ohio Republican has been talking with House Republicans all weekend to secure the 217 votes needed to clinch the speakership when it comes to the floor.

Jordan can only afford to lose four votes as Democrats are expected to vote for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), setting the stage for a multi-round election similar to the one lawmakers experienced in January when it took McCarthy 15 rounds to secure the leadership position.

At least five Republicans have come out against Jordan, including Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL). Another four have said they are leaning no, although they have not made a final decision: Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Ken Buck (R-CO), Steve Womack (R-AR), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA).

There’s also at least one expected absence on the GOP side for Tuesday, as Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) will be attending a funeral.

However, several initial holdouts, such as Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Ken Calvert (R-CA), and Mike Rogers (R-AL), announced on Monday they had flipped their votes after speaking with Jordan and would support him on the floor — indicating some momentum in favor of the nominee ahead of the floor vote.

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Some Republicans have expressed confidence that the margin will continue to shrink once the motion is brought to the floor, suggesting that once members are put on the record, they’ll change their votes.

If successful, Jordan will assume the leadership position with just one month until the government is scheduled to run out of money. Both chambers of Congress are far from advancing all 12 of its appropriations bills.