Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) predicted Sunday that it will be “really, really difficult” for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to get the votes to be elected Speaker of the House.
“Nothing’s impossible, but it’s going to be really, really difficult, based on what I’m hearing,” Crenshaw said, when asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he thinks Jordan, the GOP nominee for Speaker, could get the majority of the votes in the full House chamber to get elected Speaker.
“I don’t have a good read on what every single member is thinking,” Crenshaw continued. “As you said, there’s a lot of different reasons with different members. It’s impossible for any member of our conference to get 217 true believers, 217 people who truly think you’re the best, right?”
Jordan was selected Friday to be the GOP nominee for Speaker, but in such a narrowly divided chamber, Jordan can only lose four Republican votes to get elected — if members vote along party lines and there are no additional absences or “present” votes.
Crenshaw, who said he supports Jordan’s candidacy, warned Jordan allies against mounting a public pressure campaign against those who have said they oppose Jordan.
“What I would really recommend to Jordan’s allies too is that a lot of them have mounted this — this high-pressure campaign. They’re going to whip up Twitter against the people who are against Jordan. That is the dumbest way to support Jordan,” Crenshaw said.
“I’m supporting Jordan. I’m going to vote for Jordan,” he added. “And as somebody who wants Jim Jordan, the dumbest thing you can do is to continue pissing off those people and entrench them.”
The House has been without a Speaker since eight Republican members voted with Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) nearly two weeks ago. Jordan was nominated after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) withdrew from the race when it became clear he couldn’t get the necessary number of votes to win support from the majority of the House, despite winning the GOP nomination.