Will Jim Jordan sneak in as House Speaker amid intraparty GOP fight?

The 118th Congress hasn’t even convened yet and already the Republicans are in disarray.

In the midterm elections, the GOP won control of the House. However, they held a narrow advantage over Democrats by just 22 to 13. Now they have to pick a speaker, but that’s proven to be far harder than anyone could have predicted.

While Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), currently the top Republican in the House, should be a shoo-in for the job, at least five GOP lawmakers have publicly declared they won’t vote for him as speaker, who needs 218 votes to wield the gavel.

A new name has emerged in the race for consensus: Rep. Jim Jordan (R.OH).

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, is one of five lawmakers who oppose McCarthy and is asking Jordan for leadership.

“All I want for Christmas is @Jim_Jordan to realize he should be Speaker of the House!,” Gaetz tweeted Christmas Eve

All I want for Christmas, is @Jim_Jordan Realize that he should be the Speaker of the House!

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 24, 2022

On Christmas Day, he doubled his efforts with another. tweet: “​Merry Christmas to all! Make sure to join me in encouraging​ ​@Jim_Jordan​ ​to seek the Speakership :)​.”

Gaetz has voiced opposition to the California congressman in writing in a Daily Caller McCarthy’s piece of last week “does not actually believe anything. He has no ideology.”

“The McCarthy camp is spinning that Kevin must be accepted because ‘we have to avoid chaos.’ Chaos for who exactly? The special interests that are counting on McCarthy as their lapdog?” Gaetz wrote. “I’m worried about chaos in the lives of my constituents.”

There are currently two factions in the world: The Never Kevin side and The Only Kevin side.

“Dozens of GOP lawmakers, from moderates to MAGA loyalists, have said they will only vote for McCarthy for Speaker, no matter how many rounds of votes it takes. If followed, that commitment to respond to hardball with hardball would basically ensure no other Republican comes close to the gavel,” The Daily Beast reported.

“The people that are supportive of Kevin, which are far more numerous than his critics, are dug in at least as deep as his critics are,” Rep. Tom Cole (R.OK), who is a supporter for McCarthy, told The Beast. “The pressure won’t be on them. It’s gonna’ be on the people that brought down the whole edifice— for what? For what purpose? What end?”

But Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) — who ran unsuccessfully against McCarthy for the speaker nomination last month — says there are upwards of 20 members in the Never Kevin movement. Good scoffed at Cole’s declaration.

“That’s funny. The bottom line is, Kevin is not going to be speaker … He’s not going to have the votes, and the number of individuals who are committed to not voting for him — it’s growing, not receding,” He stated.

Good words from Republicans: “get past the denial stage” They say that the sooner they begin searching for a consensus candidate, “the better off we’re all going to be.”

POLITICO reported A group of lawmakers quietly approached Rep. Steve Scalise, R-LA, last week. He is currently the No. If McCarthy fails to succeed, Scalise could be considered for speaker.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl is a 35-year veteran of politics, having served 12 years as White House correspondent in a national newspaper. He was also the Drudge Report’s morning editor for four years. Send tips to [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @josephcurl