Rep. Drew Ferguson said the death threats started coming into his office as soon as he flipped his vote away from Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House.
Scott Macfarlane of CBS News reported:
More threats
Rep Drew Ferguson (R-GA), who defected from Jim Jordan yesterday, “Shortly after casting that vote, my family and I started receiving death-threats. That is simply unacceptable, unforgivable, and will never be tolerated.”
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 19, 2023
Just asked Rep Ken Buck (R-CO) if Rep Jim Jordan could do more to tamp down the threats being issued to House GOP members by agitators …
Buck said — yes he could
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 19, 2023
It isn’t just House Republicans who vote against Jordan who are getting death threats. It is also their spouses.
The wife of Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) has received death threats, according to NBC News:
The wife of Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., has received anonymous, threatening text messages this week pressuring her to persuade her husband to support Jordan.
Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said his staffers have been “cussed out” in phone calls from Jordan supporters.
And Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said he was so upset with pro-Jordan robocalls to voters in his South Florida district that he personally told Jordan to call off the attack dogs.
On Wednesday night, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, said in a statement that she’d received “credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls” after she switched her vote to another Republican in the second round of voting.
Jordan, Fox News, Newsmax, and others in conservative media could put a stop to all of this by taking a stand and telling Jordan’s supporters to cut it out. They won’t because they are pulling from Trump’s anti-democracy playbook of threats and intimidation.
Jim Jordan won’t hold a third vote for Speaker, but he isn’t quitting. Instead, Jordan is backing temporary Speaker Patrick McHenry to hold the post until January. In the meantime, Jordan will keep running, and the odds are that he won’t denounce the death threats to his fellow Republicans.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
