Conservative Intimidation Tactics Backfire On Jim Jordan Speaker Bid

WASHINGTON — An outside pressure campaign by conservative media and supporters of Rep. Jim Jordan ’s speaker bid appeared to backfire this week as their targets in the House GOP conference vowed to stand firm against him. 

Jordan has now failed twice to get the votes needed to become speaker, he’s got no clear path forward, and the outside pressure on his opponents helps explain why.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) spoke out Tuesday night after his wife received anonymous and vaguely threatening text messages saying the congressman had better vote for Jordan. 

“They’re messing with the wrong guy. I’m not going to be cowed by this stuff,” Bacon told HuffPost on Wednesday. “I spent 30 years in the Air Force, four deployments. You think a bunch of threats and weird Twitter comments get under my skin?”

Several more Republicans came forward Wednesday to complain about what they considered intimidation tactics by Jordan allies, though none accused their colleague himself of orchestrating the campaign. The offices of members opposing Jordan were swamped with angry phone calls, and representatives from Sean Hannity’s Fox News show even bugged lawmakers with emails urging them to back Jordan’s speakership. 

Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) vowed Wednesday  that “threats and intimidation tactics will not change my principles and values.”

Another Jordan “no” vote, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), similarly called out threats. 

“This was a vote of conscience and I stayed true to my principles,” Granger said on social media . “Intimidation and threats will not change my position.”

Kiggans and Bacon voted for ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the second roll call vote on Wednesday, which saw Jordan lose 22 Republicans . He can only lose four members of his conference and still get the gavel. 

Fewer Republicans 20 had voted against Jordan a day earlier. The backward momentum suggests Jordan’s speaker bid is doomed.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), a Jordan ally, said the outside pressure on holdouts has been unhelpful. 

“Americans are really passionate. They want their voices to be heard. Their voices should be heard. But, you know, some of the stuff just is not going to move these members,” Donalds told reporters. “I think everybody just needs to stop. Just let the members have this discussion amongst us.”

Republicans have been leaderless since a small right-wing faction forced McCarthy out of the speaker’s office earlier this month after he prevented a government shutdown with Democratic help. Many GOP members are still upset about his ouster. It took McCarthy 15 rounds of voting to become speaker in January, and as of Wednesday, it doesn’t look like anyone else in the Republican conference can do better. 

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) beat Jordan in an internal election last week to succeed McCarthy as the party’s speaker-designate, but then withdrew from the contest a day later when it became clear he couldn’t win the necessary 217 votes. Several Republicans believe Jordan undermined Scalise’s attempt to unify the conference. 

Jordan may be closer to former President Donald Trump than any other House Republican. He helped coordinate Trump’s ill-fated efforts to undo the 2020 election and since then has worked to defend Trump from various criminal investigations. 

Bringing outside pressure on perceived enemies, including threats and harassment, has been a hallmark of Trump’s conduct both in and out of public office. This week, a federal judge overseeing one of Trump’s criminal cases said Trump’s rhetorical attacks represented a grave threat to the judicial process . 

“Undisputed testimony cited by the government demonstrates that when defendant has publicly attacked individuals, including on matters related to this case, those individuals are consequently threatened and harassed,” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote. 

Trump endorsed Jordan but has not weighed in much on the speaker race. Still, the public pressure has been notable.

Hannity responded to the critics on his Monday evening broadcast on Fox News, dubbing them “sensitive little snowflakes .”

“Why is it a shock to certain lawmakers and members of the media mob all of you out there that yours truly, a member of the press, is daring to ask elected representatives, the so-called public servants in this country, if and when they plan to wrap up this speaker battle and reopen the people’s House amid growing chaos both at home and abroad,” Hannity said.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), another Jordan holdout, told HuffPost he had not received any actual threats, just phone calls to his office and negative attention on TV and social media. “And apparently there’s some robocalls going around in Miami,” Gimenez said, referring to automatic mass phone calls. “So somebody’s funding this.”

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) said she received threats after voting for Scalise on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“This was a vote of conscience and I stayed true to my principles,” Granger said on social media . “Intimidation and threats will not change my position.”

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) said she “received credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls” after voting against Jordan on Wednesday. 

A spokesperson for Jordan called the threats against Miller-Meeks “abhorrent” and said, “it needs to stop.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a former House member, called the conservative media pressure campaign “stupid.” The senator was present on the House floor several times this week, telling HuffPost that one GOP lawmaker he spoke to on Tuesday received over 1,000 phone calls urging him to back Jordan even though they had already done so. 

“He said, ‘It almost made me switch my vote,’” Mullin said. “It was a very, very, very dumb move.”