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Is Jordan’s seat in jeopardy?

Stance against Boehner has Republicans ready to change his district.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, talks about the budget crisis on Capitol Hill on July 26. Jordan is facing a lot of criticism from his own party about how he's handled the debt ceiling debate. New York Times photo by Philip Scott Andrews

PHILIP SCOTT ANDREWS/STF Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, talks about the budget crisis on Capitol Hill on July 26. Jordan is facing a lot of criticism from his own party about how he's handled the debt ceiling debate. New York Times photo by Philip Scott Andrews

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By Joe Hallett, The Columbus Dispatch 8:10 PM Thursday, July 28, 2011

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 Thursday 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.

In a statement to The Dispatch, Boehner distanced himself from any move to punish Jordan: “Jim Jordan and I may not always agree on strategy, but we are friends and allies, and the word retribution is not in my vocabulary,” Boehner said. “I look forward to continuing to serve with him in the U.S. House after the redistricting process in Ohio is complete.”

Jordan’s office had not responded to a request for comment, but Jordan sent a link to the Dispatch story on Twitter and posted it on his Facebook page telling followers and friends: “I would be interested to hear your comments on this article suggesting that my vote will result in my congressional district being eliminated.”

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.”

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