Are Republican U.S. House candidates willing to support a disgraced pervert-enabler's House Speaker bid?
Even though the 2018 general election for all 435 U.S. House seats aren't until November 6, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who, when he was an assistant wrestling coach at The Ohio State University, turned a blind eye to sexual assault committed by now-deceased team doctor Richard Strauss, launched his bid for U.S. House Speaker.
There are precisely two reasons why Jordan would launch a bid to become speaker: either Jordan believes that current House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has already announced that he will not run for re-election to his House seat, is going to give up the speakership before the midterm elections, or Jordan is deluded enough to believe that Republicans are all but certain to retain a majority of seats in the House (according to a FiveThirtyEight weighted aggregation of polls, Democrats have, as of this writing, a 7.7% generic congressional ballot lead, which, given the Republicans' net gerrymandering advantage, that would mean that Democrats have at least a 50/50 chance of winning a majority of seats in the House, although probably not drastically better than that).
The fact that Jordan is running for House Speaker is going to force Republican candidates for U.S. House seats to have to answer whether or not they would be willing to support an enabler of a serial sexual abuser for the House speakership, a position that is second in the line of succession to the presidency.
On August 7, voters in the 12th Congressional District of Ohio will vote in a special election for the U.S. House seat that was vacated by Republican Pat Tiberi. The Republican nominee in the special election, Troy Balderson, has refused to say whether he would support or oppose Jordan's speakership bid, and the Democratic nominee in the special election, Danny O'Connor, has strongly criticized Balderson over his indecision on a very important issue:
There are precisely two reasons why Jordan would launch a bid to become speaker: either Jordan believes that current House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has already announced that he will not run for re-election to his House seat, is going to give up the speakership before the midterm elections, or Jordan is deluded enough to believe that Republicans are all but certain to retain a majority of seats in the House (according to a FiveThirtyEight weighted aggregation of polls, Democrats have, as of this writing, a 7.7% generic congressional ballot lead, which, given the Republicans' net gerrymandering advantage, that would mean that Democrats have at least a 50/50 chance of winning a majority of seats in the House, although probably not drastically better than that).
The fact that Jordan is running for House Speaker is going to force Republican candidates for U.S. House seats to have to answer whether or not they would be willing to support an enabler of a serial sexual abuser for the House speakership, a position that is second in the line of succession to the presidency.
On August 7, voters in the 12th Congressional District of Ohio will vote in a special election for the U.S. House seat that was vacated by Republican Pat Tiberi. The Republican nominee in the special election, Troy Balderson, has refused to say whether he would support or oppose Jordan's speakership bid, and the Democratic nominee in the special election, Danny O'Connor, has strongly criticized Balderson over his indecision on a very important issue:
BREAKING: After blasting Dem Danny O’Connor over possibly backing Nancy Pelosi for House speaker, Troy Balderson won’t say if he backs Jim Jordan for the same job...— Darrel Rowland (@darreldrowland) July 26, 2018
This is now THE issue in the 12th district special election https://t.co/Gfr2tcIR42
Furthermore, Liz Watson, who is the Democratic nominee in the November 6 general election in the 9th Congressional District of Indiana, has publicly called for Republican incumbent Trey Hollingsworth to publicly oppose Jordan's speakership bid:It’s clear Troy Balderson doesn’t have the backbone to be an independent voice for us in Congress." (2/2)— Danny O'Connor (@dannyoconnor1) July 27, 2018
Let me make this point very clear: If Republican candidates for U.S. House seats are unwilling to clearly and directly state that they oppose Jim Jordan's bid to become U.S. House Speaker, that should be interpreted as a willingness to support a disgraced pervert-enabler for a powerful position that is second in the line of succession to the presidency.Jim Jordan has announced that he is running for House speaker. I call on Trey Hollingsworth to state he will not support Jordan’s candidacy. @RepTrey must speak up loud and clear. His failure to do so will send a terrible message to young people and to survivors of sexual abuse.— Liz Watson (@LizForIndiana) July 28, 2018
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