Congress’s Least Effective Lawmaker is Openly Asking for the Speakership

It would be tempting to write that Kevin McCarthy’s historic and ignominious ejection from House Speakership created a power vacuum—except there was evidently no power there even when McCarthy occupied it. Nevertheless, someone has to fill the vacancy, as the House of Representatives requires a presiding officer to conduct most business.

Two Republican Congressmen have announced their desire for the Speakership: McCarthy’s number two, Steve Scalise, and Jim Jordan. As mentioned previously, neither of these two men would be principled, moderate Speakers. But since Jordan seems more deranged and radical than Scalise, we must turn our attention to the Ohio congressman.

In his formal letter requesting support for the Speakership, Jordan claims the Republicans must continue to address issues which matter to the American people, which falsely presupposes that

House Republicans ever started addressing those issues in the first place.

From his influential role as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, as well as a prominent role in Jim Comer’s House Oversight Committee, Jordan has been much too preoccupied with investigating President Biden’s civilian son Hunter and litigating Elon Musk’s Twitter Files.

Americans have noticed: Congressional disapproval among Americans is at 76%. By an 8-percentage-point gap, more Americans approve of Congressional Democrats than Republicans. Only 27% of Americans believe Congressional Republicans have the right priorities. Jordan is perhaps more responsible for these figures than any single Republican Congressman, since he’s widely seen as the most prominent culture warrior Republicans have in Congress.

Moreover, his legislative record reflects it: Comprehensive studies from the Universities of Virginia and Vanderbilt have determined that Jordan is perhaps the least legislatively effective lawmaker in Congress, despite the fact that he’s been there for 16 years. In other words, he very rarely sponsors legislation and when he does, it almost always fails.

Put simply: Jim Jordan is the walking embodiment of all that’s wrong with the modern Republican Party. He’s a loud, persistent, and aggressive propagandist. But more importantly, he’s a terrible legislator, negotiator, and producer of substantive, materially beneficial results for his constituents.

Sadly, that means by today’s standards for Republican politicians, the chance of his ascent to the highest office in the House of Representatives is much higher than he deserves.