Trump Endorses Jim Jordan for House Speaker as GOP Leadership Fight Deepens

Shortly after midnight on Friday, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social site that Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio had his "Complete & Total Endorsement" to become the next speaker of the House. He called Jordan a "STAR" long before he arrived in Washington to represent Ohio's 4th Congressional District, and predicted he would be a "GREAT Speaker." Jordan chairs the House Judiciary Committee and has long been one of Trump's most loyal defenders on Capitol Hill.

The post came hours after Texas Rep. Troy Nehls announced on X, late Thursday, that he had spoken with Trump and that the former president was backing Jordan. "I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party," Nehls wrote. Nehls had been among the first to urge Trump to seek the job himself. In an Associated Press interview, he said Trump, after thinking it over, concluded that Jordan was right for the role. Two Republicans familiar with Trump's thinking, speaking anonymously, said he had been telling people in recent days that he preferred Jordan, though it was unclear whether he planned to announce it before Nehls tweeted.

The vacancy follows the ouster of Kevin McCarthy. Trump had helped McCarthy win the gavel in January, after 15 rounds of voting. But he later pressed Republicans to impeach President Joe Biden and to reject deals McCarthy negotiated. Last month he urged the party's right flank to back a government shutdown unless Republicans won deep spending cuts, arguing that Biden would take the blame. McCarthy instead moved to keep the government open for 45 days without those cuts, and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a longtime Trump ally, cited that decision in moving to depose him.

Jordan is one of two leading candidates, alongside Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who has also worked closely with Trump over the years. Each needs 218 votes and the backing of both the party's far-right and moderate factions. It is unclear whether the endorsement will push Scalise out, or whether either man can reach that number. Nehls said that if no candidate gets there, he would turn to Trump again. "Our conference is divided. Our country is broken. I don't know who can get to 218," he said.

Trump had spent Thursday fueling talk that he might take the job himself. He told Fox News Digital that he would accept a short stint as speaker, for 30 to 90 days, if another candidate lacked the votes, saying colleagues had asked him to serve as a unifier until someone could be found for the longer term. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who did not vote to remove McCarthy, posted that she believed he would take it. Nehls said multiple members were willing to offer nomination speeches for Trump.

No law requires a speaker to be a House member, but all 55 speakers the House has elected have been. Lawmakers have occasionally cast votes for outsiders, usually as a protest. The job means effectively running the Capitol and managing hundreds of lawmakers, and demands attention to the arcane details of legislating, which Trump showed little interest in even as president.

Trump had also been in talks to visit Capitol Hill, and told Fox News Digital he would travel Tuesday to meet with Republicans. It would have been his first visit since leaving office and since the January 6, 2021, attack on the building by his supporters. He has been indicted in Washington and Georgia over efforts to overturn his loss to Biden. One person familiar with the planning said he would come to talk with lawmakers, not to pitch himself. After the endorsement, Nehls said the trip looked unlikely.

Jordan has led investigations into the prosecutors who have charged Trump, and was among the Republicans who worked with him to challenge the 2020 result before January 6. A speakership vote could come as soon as Wednesday.