Threats fly as Jim Jordan’s bid to be US House Speaker turns ugly
Republican lawmakers say they have been targeted by intimidation tactics, including death threats, from allies of Jim Jordan as his bid for the US House of Representatives speakership falters.
Several Republicans told reporters they had been subject to a pressure campaign by supporters of Mr Jordan, who lost a second vote for the gavel on Wednesday. Jordan, a right-wing Republican from Ohio, disavowed the harassment.
A hardline conservative revolt ousted the last Speaker on 3 October.
Marianne Miller-Meeks, an Iowa Republican, wrote in a statement on Wednesday that she had “received credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls” after switching her vote to an alternative to Mr Jordan. “One thing I cannot stomach, or support is a bully,” she wrote.
The infighting comes after Mr Jordan failed for a second time to gain enough support from his party to clinch the speakership.
On Wednesday, the Republican fell short of the 217 votes he needed, after 22 of his fellow Republicans voted against him – two more than did so on Tuesday.
There is no end in sight to the leadership battle more than two weeks after Kevin McCarthy was removed as leader of the lower chamber of Congress in a backbench mutiny. Without a Speaker, the Republican-controlled House is unable to pass any bills or approve White House requests for emergency aid. That includes potential help for Israel amid its war with Hamas.
Democrats, the minority party in that chamber, have so far offered no help on what they call “a Republican problem”, voting unanimously each time for their own leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
As frustration mounts, talk has grown in the House of empowering acting Speaker Patrick McHenry for a temporary period of up to 90 days.
(BBC)
