As Sarah speculated earlier, there's definitely been some chatter about former and potentially future President Donald Trump tossing his name in the ring for Speaker of the House after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday. With McCarthy making clear he wasn't running again, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) had posted over X that he was nominating Trump. On Thursday night, though, Nehls shared that he had spoken to Trump, and that the former president is endorsing Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) for the role.
Nehls himself is thus endorsing Jordan as well, noting "I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party." He also has been confirming as much to reporters.
Just had a great conversation with President Trump about the Speaker’s race.
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) October 6, 2023
He is endorsing Jim Jordan, and I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party.
I fully support Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House.
NEWS: GOP Rep. Troy Nehls just told me Trump is “all in” on Jim Jordan for speaker.
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) October 6, 2023
“He decided to show his support for Jim Jordan. He thinks that Jim Jordan has the best chance at uniting our party and becoming the speaker. And I’m not going to go against his wishes.”
Jordan and Trump have had a positive relationship, with Jordan having endorsed Trump for president in 2024. In April he shared he is "100% for President Trump."
Jordan's run for speaker also appears to have united all different kinds of Republican members. This includes Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who filed his motion to vacate the chair on Monday night so as to oust McCarthy, as well as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who spoke up in a passionate defense of McCarthy from the House floor on Tuesday, and who made clear on Thursday he wouldn't support Trump for speaker. Now Nehls also supports Jordan.
In previous years, Jordan had indicated, including in conversations with Townhall, that he would rather be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which he currently is, in addition to chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Chatter increased on Tuesday night and Wednesday that Jordan might actually run, and he confirmed that he was indeed running on Wednesday.
According to Fox News' Chad Pergram, Jordan also believes that he can unite Republicans so as to avoid a chaotic process for selecting a speaker. It had taken 15 rounds for McCarthy to finally become speaker in the early morning hours of January 7.
Jordan on Fox on his bid for Speaker: We shouldn't go to the House floor until we have 218 votes for the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. We shouldn't have to go through what we did back in January...I think I can bring our team together to accomplish that.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 6, 2023