Posted on 07/28/2011 12:23:58 PM PDT by markomalley
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan's open defiance of Speaker John Boehner's efforts to solve the debt-ceiling crisis could cost the Urbana Republican his safe seat in next year's election.
Two Republican sources deeply involved in configuring new Ohio congressional districts confirmed to The Dispatch today that Jordan's disloyalty to Boehner has put him in jeopardy of being zeroed out of a district.
"Jim Jordan's boneheadedness has kind of informed everybody's thinking," said one of the sources, both of whom spoke only on condition of anonymity. "The easiest option for everybody has presented itself."
Jordan's rural 11-county district, which has a 60 percent Republican voter index, "is easy to cannibalize because it stretches so far," said the other source.
Hostilities between Boehner and Jordan, whose districts abut each other, broke out into the open this week as the speaker struggled to line up votes from tea party conservatives in the House for his plan to raise the debt ceiling while cutting as much as $3 trillion over the next decade.
Jordan, a tea party favorite who chairs the 170-plus member Republican Study Committee, has stymied Boehner's efforts to raise the debt ceiling. On Wednesday, the rift exploded when it was discovered a key aide to the committee sent emails to conservative groups urging them to push undecided Republicans to vote against Boehner's plan.
The undermining of Boehner was the last straw for Statehouse Republicans controlling the redistricting process in Ohio, saying Jordan's refusal to be a team player should cost him his job.
"He doesn't know it, but he solved a problem for Republican line-drawers by (figuratively) standing up and saying, 'I'm a jerk and I deserved to be punished,' " said one of the sources.
Breaking up and parsing out Jordan's 4th district and throwing him into a new one that is competitive would solve a dilemma for GOP congressional map-drawers who, due to population shifts, must reduce the number of Ohio congressional districts from 18 to 16 before the Feb. 8 candidate filing deadline for the May 3 primary election.
Currently, Republicans control 13 of the districts and GOP officials have been struggling to draw a map that preserves a seat for all of them.
Due to the Cleveland area's heavy population loss, it is a virtual certainty that the 10th and 11th districts, represented by Democrats Dennis J. Kucinich of Cleveland and Marcia L. Fudge of Warrensville Heights, respectively, will be merged. The 11th is Ohio's only black majority district and GOP map-drawers likely will preserve that status, giving Fudge the edge.
Kucinich seems to be resigned to his fate as a Democrat without a district and has made overtures about moving to the Seattle area and running for Congress from Washington.
The GOP sources separately described virtually the same plan being considered for breaking up Jordan's district, which currently includes all of Allen, Auglaize, Shelby, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Champaign, Marion, Morrow and Richland counties and the eastern half of Wyandot County.
The new district would put Jordan's home county, Champaign, in a district with Madison County and roughly half of Franklin County, including parts of the county and Columbus with large populations of African-Americans, who traditionally vote Democratic.
"In so doing, you put Jordan in a district that is competitive for both parties and he will have a very, very hard time winning," said one of the sources.
The rural counties comprising the rest of Jordan's current district would be allocated to GOP Reps. Bob Latta of Bowling Green, Steve Stivers of Columbus and Pat Tiberi of Genoa Township.
One of the Republican sources said Jordan, a former state legislator, became inoculated against compromising by his comfort in a district he has represented since 2007 and which he typically wins with more than 60 percent of the vote.
"The downside of being in an uber-safe district is you often don't develop the strategic skills you need to survive in the arena and in this case that is going to be painfully evident to Jim Jordan."
RINO revenge
If Ohio does this then put Jordan up against Boehner and lets see how he fairs then!!!
The Speaker is behaving very childishly.
He should be zeroed out!
Lemme get this straight.....Boner is going to make Jordan pay for not towing the Moderate line? I thought only the Demonrats did that. Jordan is a Tea Party favorite? This could be a real test of the Tea Party’s clout. This is maddening to say the least. :(
That would cover me. But I wonder how my current rep, Steve Stivers feels about it. That's half his district today.
Personally, I'd be very happy to have Jordan as my congressman.
If it is competitive for both parties, then why is Jordan automatically going to lose. This so called unnamed source is either lying or doesn't exist. I want to see Boner Primaried. His record is abysmal and he should be challenged from the right.
If Ohio does this then put Jordan up against Boehner and lets see how he fairs then!!!
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YES INDEED!!! And get primary opponents for every RINO “leader” in the state house.
Damn RINOs think they can get away with anything. They need to be taken to the woodshed.
Both seats will come from Northern Ohio. He has a safe seat. They have Kucinich, Kaptor. Suton, Ryan or Fudge to eliminate first.
Precisely. We have our perfect challenger to run against Boehner shoould they try this.
Jim Jordan isn't going anywhere, unless he chooses to.
I don't doubt there are some state legislators who don't like Jordan from their time serving together, but this story doesn't really hold water for me. Sounds more like something they're floating to get a story written and threaten him.
My understanding is that Jordan is on good terms with the Ohio establishment generally and one brush-up with Boehner isn't going to be enough for the anklebiters to smack him in redistricting.
What IS true is that earlier this year, there was a great deal of speculation that Jordan would be running for Senate and his CD would be carved up. So it was a possibility from the start. But Josh Mandel stepped up to run for Senate instead.
Succinctly put, and QFT
This is stupid when there are more democrats seats that could be targeted instead.
Those of us who left the Republicans and identify ourselves as “conservative” have been expecting this as we’ve watched events unfold. The Republican party is not conservative. It is merely less liberal than the democratic party which is just plain socialist.
Now that we have a new batch of conservatives in office, they are challenging the liberal republican status quo, and the liberal republicans do not like it one bit. Their constant failures at “reaching across the aisle” are not acceptable to the conservatives. This congress is gonna either find itself agreeing to actually do some of the things the conservatives require, or it’s gonna be deadlocked until the man is at the door.
Frankly, I don’t see a way out of this even if the conservatives DO get their way - it’s too late for that - but to continue on with the iterative micro-changes being proposed is madness in the current situation.
No significant cuts, NOW, no deal.
They are just sitting back hiogh-fiving as they watch republicans implode and do their dirty work for them.
Those making such threats should consider it a real one - for Themselves.
We tire of Rinos who do not even pretend loyalty to We the People.
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