UPDATE: Shortly after the publication of this article, Rep. Jim Jordan secured the Republican nomination to become Speaker of the House.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Club for Growth President David McIntosh has added his voice to the growing support for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to become the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In an exclusive interview Friday with Headline USA, McIntosh stressed that his organization isn’t actively campaigning for a particular candidate to fill the role.
That said, Jordan’s fiscal responsibility and his ability to work with moderate Republicans make him the man for the job, he said.
“We’re hoping Jordan’s able to pull together the votes to secure it, especially since Steve Scalise pulled out,” McIntosh said.
“As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jim worked with [former Speaker Kevin] McCarthy and the more moderate leadership team,” he added. “I think everyone trusts him, so he could be that unifier to emerge.”
McIntosh’s comments come amid a quickly changing landscape in the House.
Scalise, R-La., the current House majority leader, was initially nominated by his colleagues, but withdrew Thursday night as it became clear he wouldn’t have enough votes to seal the deal.
Rumors were flying that a vote on Jordan could come by the end of Friday, though nothing had been announced as of the publication of this article.
McIntosh said this latest speakership scrum differed from the previous contest won by McCarthy, R-Calif.
Earlier this year, 17 of the 20 holdouts against McCarthy were supported by the Club for Growth. McIntosh said those members were encouraged to stand by their principles and to push to ensure that McCarthy would preside over the House as a fiscal hawk.
Despite his differences with McCarthy, McIntosh said he thought the former speaker “did a good job” in his short tenure. However, he dropped the ball in allowing the Democrats to shape the latest funding bill, the Club for Growth leader said.
This time around, McIntosh said it seemed like various House members had their own individual reasons for replacing McCarthy—from moderates such as Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., to pro-MAGA maverick Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Meanwhile, the raft of concessions achieved by the Republicans who opposed McCarthy earlier this year appears to be in limbo.
Part of the negotiations entailed Club for Growth getting McCarthy’s super-PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, to refrain from challenging conservative candidates in critical primary races.
“That’s a huge change, because he had spent about $40 million in primaries—that group did—that could have been used in the fall to win more seats,” McIntosh told Headline USA in February, after securing that win.
“So, they’ve agreed to that and we’ve agreed that we’ll continue to be able to get the best conservative into those primaries,” he said. “And it will make it a stronger Republican House.”
McIntosh said Friday that he believes the deal with the Congressional Leadership Fund will remain intact.
“Will that survive now that Kevin’s not the speaker? The real answer is: I don’t know where that deal would be,” he said.
“I’d hope we still have our incentives aligned,” he continued. “Their incentive is to keep and build the majority, and our incentive is to try to get more conservatives in the primaries. And so, there’s a good chance the deal will continue.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
