He built his brand as a blustering arch-conservative who wasn’t afraid to take on liberals. He was a pioneer of this new right-wing faction that has become the face of the Republican Party. He was former President Trump’s choice to lead the US House of Representatives. And now he’s putting California Republicans in a tough spot.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan ended his bid to lead the House on Friday after facing stiff opposition from moderates and other lawmakers in key districts.

But all five California Republicans from the districts that President Biden won in 2020. Young Kim of La Habra, David Valadao of Hanford, Mike Garcia of Santa Clarita, Michelle Steel of Seal Beach and John Duarte of Modesto stood firmly behind Jordan during his three failed attempts to secure the land. the hammer.

The

five Californians

The decision to back the Ohioan could come back to haunt the US

mse legislator in the future

. Jordan’s deep ties to former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election may not sit well with key voters in swing districts, Democratic strategist and pollster Cornell Belcher told The Times on Friday.

You have someone in Jim Jordan who sums up everything they don’t like about MAGA and the Trump era, Belcher said. Jordan is the Donald Trump of the House of Representatives. And those swing voters rejected Donald Trump.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have struggled to elect a leader since eight Republicans voted in October. 3 worked with Democrats to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield from the speaker’s seat.

McCarthy’s historic impeachment caused chaos in the House of Representatives. Republicans have failed to secure a simple majority to elect a speaker who can call floor votes on crucial legislation, including bills to respond to the conflicts engulfing Israel and Ukraine and to call for a government shutdown against to be avoided in mid-November.

Polls show that voters are annoyed by the chaos.

Forty-nine percent of GOP respondents disapprove of the way Republicans in Congress are handling their jobs, according to a Thursday poll conducted by the Global Strategy Group and released by Navigator Research, a Democratic firm. Sixty-nine percent of all voters said they disapprove of the way Republicans in Congress are handling their work.

Republicans increasingly say they blame their own party for the chaos in Washington. On September 11, 32% of Republicans surveyed said they would blame their own party most if the government shut down. By Oct. 16, that number

had grown

up to 36%.

“The fact that Jim Jordan got up to 200 votes is a reflection: he and Trump represent the Republican Party,” Sarah Longwell, a Republican anti-Trump strategist, told The Times. “They are symptoms of the same problem. The party has moved sharply in the MAGA direction.”

“It’s not right, it’s not right,” she said. “It’s just Trump.”

Duarte, Garcia and Calverts races are considered toss-ups.”

Cook political report

, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog noted Friday. Cook sees Valadao and Steels’ races as lean Republicans.

Duarte and Garcia’s races are considered toss-ups,” Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, noted Friday. Cook rates Valadao and Steel’s races as lean Republican, while Kim’s is likely Republican.

Spokespeople for Garcia, Steel and Duarte did not respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, Kim told The Times that McCarthy’s removal has left the House unable to respond to relevant issues.

“I have worked in good faith to be part of the solution and support our nominees for the conference, but it is clear that no candidate has the votes to be chair at this time,” Kim told The Times in a statement after Friday’s vote. Kim said her conference is North Carolina Rep. Patrick should strengthen

T

McHenry, who serves as speaker pro tempore, to pass crucial legislation until a leader is chosen.

Valadao has said in statements that he supported Jordan “because we need to get back to work” and that he would support a plan to give McHenry more power.

Spokespeople for Kim and Valadao would not say who the Legislature would support after Jordan dropped out and at least five Republican representatives. Austin Scott of Georgia, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Pete Sessions of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida and Jack Bergman of Michigan said they would run for speaker.

McHenry said he wouldn’t run to stay in the seat. But strengthening him could still be on the table if his faction cannot agree on who should lead them.

The plan to give McHenry more power, which would do that

probably probably

needed support from Democrats in the House of Representatives, fell apart Thursday afternoon when it became clear that Republicans were overwhelmingly against it, throwing the House of Representatives into trouble.

it is it

enters its fourth week without a permanent leader.

California Republicans’ pragmatic explanations for supporting Jordan

has had

hasn’t stopped anti-Trump groups from going after them.

On the Friday before Jordan dropped out, the Congressional Integrity Report, a Democratic-leaning nonprofit, published ads highlighting the Ohioan’s ties to his party’s right wing.

Using audio from various news commentators, The

digital advertisement noted that Jordan created the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus, denied the results of the 2020 presidential election and “may be the member of Congress most involved in Donald Trump’s coup.”

“Everyone who supports Jordan and every member who votes for him is voting affirmatively for a coup plotter, an election denier, and an enemy of American democracy,” the ad said.

Jordan, who voted against certification

a lot of these

The election results were “a major player in President Trump’s efforts,” the House of Representatives committee noted in its Jan. 6 final report.

Garcia is the only one of the five who voted against certifying certain election results.

Denying 2020 presidential election results remains deeply unpopular among key voters, says Belcher

the Democratic pollster said

. In 2022, many Democratic candidates ran on a platform that their party would save American democracy. The argument resonated with voters as Democrats blunted a huge red wave for Republicans, Belcher said.

The long-running battle between Republicans in the House of Representatives is an absolute gift for Democrats, he added. Belcher predicted that progressives competing in tight districts in California will run attack ads that prominently display their opponents’ support for Jordan, as advocacy groups did this week.

However, other experts say all hope is not lost for these Californians.

Their chances of staying in Washington will depend heavily on their reporting, says Whit Ayers, a Republican pollster. If Californians can show they have their backs

for

For practical reasons, voters may be able to apologize for supporting Jordan.

“I think that’s a pretty effective argument for some people,” Ayres said.

Voters paying close attention may remember that the Republican Party refused to give McHenry the power to get things done as the speaker’s race rages on. But Ayres doubted most voters are following this closely.

“It’s such an inside game that most people just aren’t aware of it,” Ayres said.

Pinho reported from Santa Barbara.