And so it begins. After House Republicans tried to get insurrectionist supporting and election denier Rep. Jim Jordan elected to Speaker, Jason Blazakis, a Democratic Congressional candidate in New Jersey, used it to attack the Republican freshman Rep incumbent, Rep. Tom Kean.
Tom Kean’s vote for Jim Jordan as Speaker shows who he truly is. Kean’s vote enables the far-right fringes of the Republican party and follows the marching orders of the disgraced former president, Donald Trump,” Blazakis said in a statement sent to PoliticusUSA.
“From attempting to overturn the 2020 election to refusing essential aid for 9/11 victims to supporting a national abortion ban, Jim Jordan is one of the most extreme, least bipartisan members of Congress and this vote represents a deeply problematic shift in the GOP. After weeks of dysfunction, Tom Kean was unable to deliver and caved to the MAGA extremists in his party, leaving our country and New Jerseyans to pay the price.”
Phew. All of that is expected, but it also carries a lot of weight, especially from Blazakis, who has worked as a national security official who has fought to protect America’s national security against extremists. He worked in counterterrorism the State Department for a decade who recently had the honor of being sanctioned by Vladimir Putin for his comments about Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.
Kean is in what was described as the state’s most competitive congressional contest in 2022.
Here’s a snapshot of polling via 538 in the last few years of Kean versus his Democratic predecessor:
538 Kean New Jersey
Jim Jordan does not have a good history as a legislator. He is not a serious person. Jordan is more about self-aggrandizement than actually getting work done for the people, and that’s why he hasn’t passed a single bill in the 16 years he’s been in office.
Former Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone called Jim Jordan an insurrectionist and said Jordan has no place being second in line to the presidency.
Speaker Jordan? Just say NO.@AccountableGOP pic.twitter.com/om9N9irdCp
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 13, 2023
Republicans who backed an insurrectionist can expect a lot more of this. Every vulnerable House Republican will have to answer for their vote on Jordan. If swing district Republicans don’t manage to speak up loudly against an election denier becoming their leader, they’re going to get pummeled with one of the very things both Republican and Democratic voters rejected in the 2022 midterms.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
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