Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) on Tuesday ripped his Republican colleagues for nominating Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for speaker of the House of Representatives in a scathing speech on the House floor.
As Aguilar made his own case for nominating Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for speaker, the California Democrat delivered a brutal rebuke of Jordan's character and policy positions.
"A vote today to make the architect of a nationwide abortion ban, a vocal election denier, and an insurrection inciter to the speaker of this House would be a terrible message to the country and our allies," Aguilar said, to applause from several House Democrats.
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Aguilar, who was a member of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots, may have particularly personal animus toward Jordan given that the Ohio Republican blew off a subpoena from the committee last year.
An internal Democratic strategy memo that leaked this week outlines how the party plans to make life miserable for Republicans if they make Jordan their speaker, and it made many of the same arguments made by Aguilar during his speech.
Among other things, the memo highlights what it calls examples of Jordan's "extremism" that it will use to hammer away at vulnerable Republicans, including his efforts to illegally keep former President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election, his scorched-earth opposition tactics that have led to multiple government shutdowns, and his support for a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Jordan went on to lose the first ballot of the speaker vote.
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