Rep. Matt Gaetz urges Jim Jordan to challenge Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker seat

Published

1 year ago

December 29, 2022

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz on Saturday urged his colleague Rep. Jim Jordan to challenge House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the battle over House speaker.

This comes as current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to resign. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in the House, giving them a chance to put their candidate in the seat.

Gaetz, a representative of Florida, has previously spoke out against McCarthy over his failure to block major legislation proposed by Democratic lawmakers.

“There are things Kevin McCarthy did to erode the trust of the members he needs to vote for him if he wants to be speaker,” Gaetz said in December on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.

As an alternative candidate, Gaetz proposed Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

“All I want for Christmas is @Jim_Jordan to realize he should be Speaker of the House!” Gaetz said in a Saturday tweet.

As of now, Jordan has not signaled any plans pursue the seat and some doubt that he will due to his previous comments praising McCarthy’s leadership.

“What I’ve said all along is the guy who gets you to the Super Bowl, even if it’s a game in overtime, gets to coach the game,” Jordan said of McCarthy in a November interview on Fox News.

Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.