A political operative who runs former Vice President Mike Pence’s super PAC and managed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s campaign is undermining Republican nominee for Speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Bobby Saparow, called “Pence’s sledgehammer” by Politico and a “senior advisor to Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA)” by Axios, told Axios, “Jim Jordan’s suit coat has a better shot of being worn for 3 hours than Jim does of getting Drew’s vote for Speaker”:
Mods don’t appear to be budging on support for Jordan.
— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) October 20, 2023
“Jim Jordan's suit coat has a better shot of being worn for 3 hours than Jim does of getting Drew's vote for Speaker,” Bobby Saparow, a senior adviser to Rep. Drew Ferguson said.
Ferguson is supporting Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) for Speaker. Scalise won the first ballot for the GOP’s Speaker nomination but failed to receive a majority of support from the conference’s voting members and withdrew before even seeking a vote on the House floor after failing to see a path toward winning the necessary 217 votes.
House Budget Committee member Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA) joins fellow GOP committee members to unveil their proposed budget for FY2024 at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on September 19, 2023, in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Scalise is publicly expressing support for Jordan. However, Scalise has been accused of working behind the scenes to undermine Jordan’s path to the speakership, reportedly even refusing to give a nomination speech for Jordan despite Jordan agreeing to nominate Scalise on the House floor.
Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, during a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, April 27, 2023 (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jordan has publicly denied being behind any organized campaign to pressure his colleagues from the outside and has repeatedly denounced any threats of violence against lawmakers.
Jordan has offered to meet privately with all of his detractors. However, it has been reported many have refused to meet with him and will not take his calls.
Ferguson has claimed he reversed his earlier support for Jordan because of outside pressure campaigns on him and other Jordan holdouts.
Angry calls are a routine occurrence on Capitol Hill, as every congressman is well aware. Yet an overwhelming grassroots uprising in support of the popular Jordan has “melted” Capitol Hill phone lines, with Americans all over the nation flooding congressional offices asking their representatives to support the GOP nominee.
Breitbart News reached out to representatives for Pence and Kemp asking if they approve of Saparow’s actions to derail the speakership election of the House Republican nominee.
Kemp’s office did not offer a comment by publication time. A spokesperson for Pence did not have a comment but referred to public comments from Pence in support of Jordan’s Speaker candidacy, calling him a “principled conservative” who would “lead with integrity.”
