Jim Jordan Speaker Bid Shows GOP in 'Complete Chaos': Ex-Republican Staffer

After Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, was chosen this week as the new nominee for House speaker, Tara Setmayer, a former GOP communications director, voiced concern on Saturday about the current state of the Republican Party, describing it as "complete chaos."

After Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, was ousted from the speakership in a historic 216-210 vote on October 3 when Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, spearheaded an effort to remove him, House Republicans began voting on a nominee to replace him. Both House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jordan decided to run for speaker and on Wednesday, Scalise beat out Jordan in a closed-door ballot to become the nominee. However, Scalise shortly withdrew from consideration on Thursday, leaving Jordan to be chosen as the new nominee on Friday, with 152 votes. A candidate is required to receive at least 217 votes to win the position as speaker.

In an MSNBC interview on The Katie Phang Show, Setmayer voiced her disapproval of Jordan becoming the GOP nominee.

"When I was predicting that it was a worst case scenario, I didn't want to be right about this because that would mean that the House GOP has turned into complete chaos which, well, unfortunately it has devolved into that," Setmayer said.

She added: "This is just an example of the absolute desperation of the Republican caucus, that Jim Jordan has been nominated for Speaker, it tells you everything you need to know about the degeneration of the House GOP and the party as a whole."

Setmayer continued to say that she does not think Jordan will win over the entire conference for the position of speaker as she questioned his ability to run the House of Representatives.

The former Republican staffer said that Jordan's history is a contributing factor, citing his alleged involvement in efforts to keep former President Donald Trump in power after losing the 2020 election as the Ohio lawmaker was previously found by the January 6 House select committee to be a "significant player," but is not facing any criminal charges.

"He does nothing but stir the pot, he goes after conspiracy theories and oh by the way he was also heavily involved in the attempt to overturn our government in a violent coup plot alongside Trump...So this guy is supposed to be the one that is now going to bring the House of Representatives together and hold the speaker's gavel," Setmayer said.

Newsweek has reached out to Jordan and Setmayer via email for comment.

This comes after other Republicans have also voiced their concern after Jordan's win for nomination.

Both former GOP Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger shared their disapproval of Jordan, stating that if Jordan becomes speaker, it could cause trouble for the Republican Party.

"I made the prediction that Jim Jordan was going to be the guy. I hope this isn't the case, I still hold to that and the reason is because, the people that hold out against Jim Jordan are the moderates, kind of the normal folks so to speak and they are the ones pretty quick to collapse because they just want to go along and get along. I mean I was one of them, so I know what that's like, where you are just tired of the fight," Kinzinger said in a video on his Substack on Friday.

While Cheney also said on Friday that Jordan's nomination and his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot will lead the Republican Party to lose the House majority.

"Jim Jordan was involved in Trump's conspiracy to steal the election and seize power; he urged that Pence refuse to count lawful electoral votes," wrote Cheney, who served as one of two Republicans on the January 6 select committee alongside Kinzinger. "If Rs nominate Jordan to be Speaker, they will be abandoning the Constitution. They'll lose the House majority and they'll deserve to."

However, Jordan has already garnered support from some prominent Republicans, including Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene as she previously stated she would vote for him instead of Scalise.

"I just voted for Jim Jordan for Speaker on a private ballot in conference, and I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor. I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress. I lost my father to cancer and it's a very serious battle," she wrote on X on Wednesday.

Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, also endorsed the congressman last week.

"He will be a great Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement," the former president wrote in a Truth Social post.