House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) floated empowering Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) in a last-ditch effort to block Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) bid for Speaker.
“We have two clear objectives: stop Jim Jordan from becoming Speaker and reopen the House of Representatives so we can get back to work,” Jeffries told House Democrats in a meeting Tuesday morning.
Jeffries called Jordan the “face of MAGA extremism.”
The New York Democrat floated the idea of elevating McHenry, who is temporarily leading the House, to have more powers; however, he said that the “specifics” are not as important as convincing Republicans not to vote for Jordan.
Jeffries also said they would “tattoo” this vote for Jordan on every Republican.
The House will likely vote later on Tuesday on raising Jordan to become the Speaker of the House.
“We got a few more people we’re going to talk to, to listen to and then we’ll have a vote [Tuesday],” Jordan said.
Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle reported that grassroots conservatives nationwide are galvanizing behind Jordan’s bid.
“I haven’t seen anything like this in years,” one top House GOP aide told Breitbart News. “They are literally melting the phone lines. Some offices’ numbers are permanently busy. Thousands and thousands of people are calling their members of Congress demanding Jordan for Speaker.”
Boyle wrote:
Jordan’s grassroots strength is no surprise — he was the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and has long been on the forefront of issues motivating the Republican base nationally — but the overwhelming level and organized nature of his support from conservative leaders nationwide have certainly caught some beltway insiders by surprise.
Throughout the day on Monday, seemingly one by one, previous critics of a Jordan speakership bid have fallen in line amid a barrage of phone calls from grassroots activists urging unity behind Jordan as the GOP conference nominee for Speaker — and as Jordan has worked the inside game too with personal phone calls to many of them. The first one to back Jordan after previous opposition was Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. Rogers’ office was over the weekend and early on Monday flooded with phone calls pressuring him to back Jordan — and meanwhile Rogers and Jordan had multiple conversations between themselves — and then Rogers backed down and endorsed Jordan for Speaker. Conservatives have been thanking Rogers all day since.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wrote, “Republicans must unite and elect @Jim_Jordan as Speaker of the House! We can have better days going forward because he has the credibility, honesty, and determination to get the job done.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.