As Jim Jordan fails for the second time to garner enough votes to become speaker, a handful of Republicans are speaking out about the strong-arming they have been facing by Jordan’s allies in attempts to make him speaker, including allegedly anonymous text messages.
On Tuesday, 20 Republicans voted against the hard-right Ohioan’s speakership, leaving the House in a continued state of limbo since extremist Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy in a historic vote earlier this month.
With Jordan struggling to secure the 217 votes needed to become speaker of the House, several Republicans have told Politico of Jordan’s “broader team … playing hardball” in attempts to garner votes.
The Nebraska congressman Don Bacon – one of the 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan in the first vote – told the outlet that his wife had reportedly received anonymous texts that warned of her husband never holding office again.
Screenshots of the alleged text messages sent to Bacon’s wife and shared with Politico showed one saying: “Talk to your husband tell him to step up and be a leader and help the Republican party get a speaker. There’s too much going on in the world for all this going on in Republican party. You guys take five steps forward and then turn around take 20 steps backwards – no wonder our party always ends up getting screwed over.”
Another message read: “Why is your husband causing chaos by not supporting Jim Jordan? I thought he was a team player.”
In response, Bacon’s wife wrote: “Who is this???”
The anonymous individual then wrote: “Your husband will not hold any political office ever again. What a disappoint [sic] and failure he is.”
Bacon’s wife then replied: “He has more courage than you. You won’t put your name to your statements.”
Speaking to Politico, Bacon said: “Jim’s been nice, one-on-one, but his broader team has been playing hardball.”
The publication also reported that other Republicans saying that they had received a “barrage of calls” from various local conservative leaders.
House Republicans also told the outlet that Jordan and his allies had been “calling people who voted for him trying to stop the bleeding” and went on to say that those calls were “pissing off” members.
“He’s lost support because of this … Constant smears – it’s just dishonesty at its core,” one House Republican told Politico anonymously.
According to the Ohio Republican David Joyce, Jordan “didn’t necessarily support the strategy”, Politico reports. Nevertheless, the pressuring tactics appear to have backfired, after 20 Republicans refused to vote for Jordan on Tuesday.
The Florida congressman Carlos Giménez, who voted against Jordan on Tuesday, told Politico that he was not going to change his mind, “especially now, in the light of these pressure tactics”.
Giménez’s fellow Florida congressman Mario Díaz-Balart echoed similar sentiments to the outlet, saying: “The one thing that will never work with me – if you try to pressure me, if you try to threaten me, then I shut off.”
Following Tuesday’s vote, Fox News host Sean Hannity published a list of the 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan, along with their numbers.
“We encourage you to call them – politely, of course – and encourage these holdouts to throw their support behind Jordan and get the country moving again!” Hannity’s website wrote.
In a second vote, on Wednesday, the number of Republicans voting against Jordan rose to 22.
In a letter issued earlier this week, Jordan warned against the in-party attacks, saying: “The country and our conference cannot afford us attacking each other right now. As Republicans, we are blessed to have an energetic conference comprised of members with varied background, experiences, and skills – just like the country we represent.”
