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Opinion

The NO Vote Grows: 22 Members say NO to Jordan

By October 19, 2023No Comments

Fewer votes is not a good sign, but Jordan wants another vote.  It is scheduled for 11 AM on Thursday.

Ronald Brownstein wrote for The Atlantic today.  He begins: “Representative Jim Jordan may or may not break down the last few Republican holdouts who blocked his election as House speaker yesterday.  But about 90 percent of the House GOP conference voted to place him in the chamber’s top job, marking an ominous milestone in the Republican Party’s reconfiguration since Donald Trump’s emergence as its central figure.

“The dominant majority of House Republicans backing Jordan is attempting to elevate someone who not only defended former President Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election but participated in them more extensively than any other member of Congress, according to the bipartisan committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.  As former Republican Representative Liz Cheney, who was the vice chair of that committee, said earlier this month: ‘Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for January 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives.‘…”

At MY RURAL AMERICA, we wonder what the Members supporting Jordan are expecting, e.g., Jordan has been in Congress for 16 years and has never voted for a Farm Bill.  He also has repeatedly opposed Social Security and Medicare.

Kansas’ rural, densely-settled rural, and frontier counties make up 85% of Kansas.  Neighboring Missouri is only a little over 33% rural.  Every Republican Member of Congress in these two states voted for Jordan.

Many things can be said about Jordan.  One is that he is consistent — 16 years of voting AGAINST THE FARM BILL.  Did these Republican Members think Jordan (once elected Speaker) would just flip a switch? … a switch that would create a “new” Jordan who would support the Farm Bill, Medicare, and Social Security?  Or, how about aa switch that would allow him to be honest about the 2020 election, honest enough to admit that it wasn’t stolen and that there was a plan to overthrow the government?

Or maybe Jordan’s record of “achievement” — achievement that stops things rather than builds things and moves us forward, is what these Republican Members want?  Their names are:

KANSAS Republicans

  • 1st District:  Tracey Mann (since 2021)
  • 2nd District: Jake LaTurner (since 2021)
  • 4th District:  Ron Estes (since 2017)

MISSOURI Republicans

  • 2nd District:  Ann Wagner (since 2013)
  • 3rd District:  Blaine Luekemeyer (since 2009)
  • 4th District:  Mark Alford (since 2023)
  • 6th District:  Sam Graves (since 2001)

Dear Readers, If you live in Kansas or Missouri, we suggest you ask them.  Your questions could be like this:  Who did you vote for in the election for Speaker?  Did you know he has consistently voted no … no to the Farm Bill, no to Social Security, no to Medicare?  So why did you vote for him when he has a long record of opposing things we need?

This Opinion is a continuing story.  Jordan has demanded another vote on Thursday. We’ll be watching.  Will you?

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic:  The Threat to Democracy Is Coming From Inside the U.S. House