Jordan was born and raised in Champaign County, Ohio, the son of Shirley and John Jordan. He attended and wrestled for Graham High School, graduating in 1982. He won state championships all four years he was in high school and compiled a 156–1 win–loss record. He then enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he became a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion. Jordan won the 1985 and 1986 NCAA championship matches in the 134-pound (61 kg) weight class. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1986. He lost the 126–137-pound (57–62 kg) featherweight semifinal match at the 1988 US Olympic wrestling trials and failed to make the Olympic team.
Jordan earned a master’s degree in education from Ohio State University and a Juris Doctor from the Capital University Law School. In a 2018 interview, Jordan said he never took the bar examination.
Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach with Ohio State University’s wrestling program from 1987 to 1995.
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Jordan was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in November 1994 and represented the 85th Ohio House district for three terms.
In 2000, Jordan was elected to the Ohio Senate over independent candidate Jack Kaffenberger with 88% of the vote. In 2004, Jordan defeated Kaffenberger again, with 79% of the vote.
Jordan represents Ohio's 4th congressional district. He won the Republican primary for the 4th district in 2006 after 26-year incumbent Mike Oxley announced his retirement. Jordan defeated Democratic nominee Rick Siferd in the general election with 60% of the vote (Jim 2-3).
Jordan described himself as one of the most conservative legislators in the Ohio Legislature — and surely will chart a rightward course in Congress. When evaluating legislation, he says he will ask himself, "Will this decision benefit families?"
He introduced numerous anti-abortion bills as a state legislator and says he will strongly support federal efforts to ban abortion and same-sex marriage.
Jordan, though, will not be a reflexive vote for the leadership, particularly if he thinks GOP fiscal policy does not cut taxes and spending enough. Endorsed by the free-market-oriented Club for Growth, Jordan supports permanently extending the Bush administration tax cuts.
On health care issues, Jordan supports expanding health savings accounts. On energy policy, he supports oil drilling and streamlining the process to build new refineries.
Still, partisan enmity is not his style. He said he is a "happy warrior . . . the guy who is fighting for the things I believe in and the things that I think make this country special — but do it with a smile" (CQ Staff 1).
Jordan was reelected in 2008, defeating Democratic nominee Mike Carroll with 65% of the vote. In 2010, he was again reelected, defeating Democrat Doug Litt and Libertarian Donald Kissick with 71% of the vote. Jordan was reelected in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 (Jim 2-4).
[Jordan began his rise through Republican ranks in the House when he was elected chair of the Republican Study Committee in December 2010. Jordan announced that] under his leadership, the group will "fight for conservative principles, develop policy and be a forum for common sense solutions and ideas."
"It is important that the new Congress remembers the message the American people sent on election day," Jordan said in a press release that announced his selection. "People want Congress to stop the out-of-control spending, reverse the expansion of government into people's personal lives, and put America back on a fiscally-responsible track."
To win the position, Jordan beat a challenge from Texas Republican Louie Gohmert, who accused him of being a "wing man" for House GOP Leader John Boehner. Jordan and Boehner represent adjacent Ohio congressional districts.
As he geared up to run for the post, Jordan began appearing more regularly on conservative radio and television shows. On Tuesday, he told radio host Laura Ingraham that President Barack Obama was “unpresidential for attacking Republicans at a press conference to defend his tax compromise (Eaton “Selected” 1).
During the U.S. government shutdown of 2013, he was considered the committee's most powerful member. That group was the primary proponent and executor of the Republican congressional strategy to bring about a government shutdown in order to force changes in the Patient Protection and Afflordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare (Jim 5).
[The Republican Party having regained control of the House as a result of the 2014 midterm election] a conservative group of nine Congress members including Champaign County GOP Rep. Jim Jordan announced Monday that they'll start a new organization called the House Freedom Caucus "to advance an agenda of limited constitutional government" in Congress.
According to a statement released by Jordan's office, the group's mission will be to give "a voice to countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them. We support open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution, and the rule of law and policies that promote liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans" (Eaton “Co-Found” 1).
According to a Roll Call account confirmed by Jordan's office, the new group selected Jordan as its chairman at a Tuesday night Capitol Hill meeting. He was unopposed.
In an interview last week, Jordan told Northeast Ohio Media Group the new organization's immediate priority will be to lobby the U.S. Senate to adopt a House-passed bill that defunds President Obama's November actions to give work permits to millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally and to temporarily halt some deportations.
He said the new group will also come up with legislation to replace Obamacare, which conservatives hope will be gutted by an upcoming Supreme Court case (Eaton “Official” 1).
“We only have 13 days left,” Jordan, R-Urbana, 4th District, said [at a Sidney, Ohio, VFW Shelby County Liberty Group political rally Oct. 26] in referring to the Nov. 8 [2016] presidential election. Jordan left no doubt in touting Republican candidate Donald Trump as the best choice and asked those in attendance to urge others to vote likewise.
“It’s down to two people. It’s going to be Trump or (Democrat Hillary) Clinton. There’s just one clear choice. We all know what he’s said. And some of it has been bad, but he’s still the best choice we have,” Jordan said.
The Congressman said the current tax policy, foreign policies and Affordable Care Act fallout is in disarray. He said political wrangling has allowed Clinton to dodge prosecution regarding security issues with her email.
“There is a double standard. There is one set of rules for ‘we the people’; and another set of rules for those who are connected in Washington.”
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“If Clinton gets elected, the Justice Department will remain political. If Trump gets elected, the Justice Department will become focused on justice.”
Jordan spoke of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi where four people were killed. He told of how the lack of military response and Clinton’s involvement in creating “a spin” on the story due to a presidential election being just 56 days away. He claims that alone should be cause for her disqualification as a presidential candidate.
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Jordan was quizzed on the uneven media coverage of the campaign. He said, “The liberal media is supposed to be the referee when it comes to candidates, not the cheerleaders. I’ve never seen it this blatant.”
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Jordan was asked to list three things he would support that Trump intends to make happen in Washington. Choosing five items, he said eliminating Obamacare, fixing border security, improving tax laws, chose proper Supreme Court Justices and improving veteran’s services.(Painter 1-2).
[Excerpts from an interview conducted by Michael Kirk on Frontline June 16, 2020]
He’s just tough. I mean, he’s tough. I remember, I typically don’t get into many details of conversation I have with the president, but one time I was talking with the president. I said: “Mr. President, I know what I have to live through. I know the attacks I get, the lies that get told about me.” And I said, “You get it a thousand times worse, and you get it every second of every day.” And he just said: “Yeah, Jim, but what are you going to do? You’ve just got to keep fighting.”
And so it’s just this rugged toughness that he has, that he’s able to keep fighting through it and trying to get done what he told the American people he was going to do. …
… this president is as real as it gets. I mean, I think that’s why so many Americans appreciate him. That’s why these rallies … They’re amazing. They’re truly amazing. … people appreciate a fighter, and they appreciate someone that they think is fighting for them.
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… I have business guys in our district and others in our district who have been supporters of me in the various campaigns I’ve been in over the years, and they really appreciate the president. They appreciate his straightforwardness, his frankness and his toughness. And some of them were for the president as soon as he announced; it was after the, you know, after he secured the nomination. So they wanted someone who’s going to shake this town up, and that’s exactly who they got.
You had that Tea Party wave that was building, that sort of culminated in 2010, taking back the House, then the frustration with us not getting some things done that we told the American people we were going to do relative to repealing Obamacare, relative to certain spending issues, relative to holding people accountable for the scandals in the Obama administration, like Lois Lerner targeting the conservatives and Tea Party members around the country. All that builds, and along comes this guy who says he’s going to take it all on, take on the swamp.
And it’s like, that movement and that momentum, I think, coalesced behind President Trump and was a big reason why he won, because we all saw someone in him that, you know what, this guy is going to change this town. He is going to fight against and do the things that we thought we were going to get down in ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, in those era—in those years. He’s going to have a chance to get that done, and that’s why I think people supported him.
… as he gets in office, you see how, in ’17, you saw this town when it was the whole Russian collusion narrative, which was a bunch of baloney, but every Democrat said, “Oh, we need a special counsel,” and all the press said, “We need a special counsel,” and a bunch of Republicans said, “We need a special counsel,” and this whole move to go after the president based on something that we now know was completely bogus. So you just—you just saw it all. And yet you saw him persevere through it all. Again, I’ve said it several times, but that’s what I really appreciate about the guy.
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… it’s this can-do attitude that he has. You know, you think about what happened during that time. We still got taxes cut, still addressed regulations, still did the embassy in Jerusalem, still did the pulling out of the Iran deal, still did all those things he told the American people he was going to do. He just did his job, and he did it well. And I think that’s the way you have to deal with all these kind of things, I think in any business, but certainly in this business.
When you’re getting attacked from the press on things that aren’t true, you’ve just got to stay focused on doing what you told the people you were going to get done. And he did that. And there’s some—I think that’s just the only way you can deal with it. And he certainly did.
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… I always say the best way is to be on the offense. That’s how you score points; that’s how you win. And the president has that mindset, that he’s going to be on the offense. In the example you gave, when it’s dealing with the press in these press scrums on, when he’s getting ready to get on Marine One, on the White House lawn, he’s on the offense. And I like it. I really do. I think it’s the proper mindset. I think it’s a mindset that’s consistent with America. It’s an American mindset, and it’s a mindset that I think the American people appreciate as well (Kirk 2-5).
One of the House’s most conservative lawmakers has announced his bid for Republican House Speaker: Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Thursday that he will join the race to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan — a campaign that might complicate the Republican speakership fight in the months ahead.
“President Trump has taken bold action on behalf of the American people,” Jordan said in a statement. “Congress has not held up its end of the deal, but we can change that.”
Ryan, who is not running for reelection, says he plans to keep his leadership post until he retires in January, but top House Republicans are already trying to position themselves as his heir apparent.
Jordan, a close ally of President Trump, is one of the loudest conservative voices against the FBI’s investigation into Russian election meddling and backed a resolution to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The Ohio Republican has been under intense scrutiny in recent months after several former Ohio State wrestlers accused Jordan of turning a blind eye to rampant sexual abuse at the university while he was an assistant wrestling coach there in the late 1980s — allegations that Jordan has vehemently denied.
Jordan has been floating a leadership run for some time, but even his conservative colleagues admit that as one of the most right-wing members of the party, it’s unlikely Jordan has enough support in the House to win the speakership altogether. But he does have the votes to sway who the speaker is (Golshan 1-2).
Works cited:
CQ Staff. “Rep.-Elect Jim Jordan (R—Ohio).” New York Times, November 8, 2006. Net. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cq/2006/11/08/cq_1866.html
Eaton, Sabrina. “It's Official: Rep. Jim Jordan Now Chairs the House Freedom Caucus.” clevelend.com, February 11, 2015. Net. https://web.archive.org/web/20190216113136/https://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/02/its_official_rep_jim_jordan_no.html
Eaton, Sabrina. “Rep. Jim Jordan Selected To Chair Republican Study Committee.” cleveland.com, December 8, 2010. Net. https://www.cleveland.com/open/2010/12/rep_jim_jordan_selected_to_cha.html
Eaton, Sabrina. “Rep. Jim Jordan To co-found New GOP "House Freedom Caucus." cleveland.com, January 26, 2015. Net. https://www.cleveland.com/open/2015/01/rep_jim_jordan_will_head_new_g.html
Golshan, Tara. “Trump Ally and Super-Conservative Jim Jordan Is Running for House Speaker.” Vox, July 26, 2018. Net. https://www.vox.com/2018/7/26/17617178/jim-jordan-house-speaker-republican-paul-ryan
“Jim Jordan (American Politician).” Wikipedia. Net. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_(American_politician
Kirk, Michael. “Jim Jordan.” Frontline, June 16, 2020. Net. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview/jim-jordan/
Painter, Jim. “Presidential Campaign Draws to a Close.” Sydney Daily News, October 27, 2016. Net. https://www.sidneydailynews.com/news/49977/jordan-touts-trump
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