James Daniel Jordan (born February 17, 1964) is an American politician currently serving in his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for since 2007.
A member of the Republican Party, he is a two-time NCAA national champion wrestler and a former college wrestling coach. In Congress, Jordan helped start the right-wing populist House Freedom Caucus, serving as its first chair from 2015 to 2017, and as its vice chair since 2017. Jordan was a prominent critic of Speaker of the House John Boehner, who resigned under Freedom Caucus pressure in 2015. He was the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee from 2019 to 2020, when he left to become the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, of which he became chair in 2023.
Jordan is a close ally of former president Donald Trump. During Trump's presidency, Jordan sought to discredit investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and staged a sit-in to prevent a Trump impeachment inquiry hearing over the Trump–Zelenskyy telephone controversy. After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump tried to overturn the election, Jordan supported lawsuits to challenge the election results and voted not to certify the Electoral College results. He refused to cooperate with the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, which subpoenaed him on May 12, 2022.
Jordan, who opposed Kevin McCarthy during his failed bid to succeed Boehner as speaker in 2015, later become one of McCarthy's closest allies; Jordan supported McCarthy during the January 2023 Speaker of the House election. After McCarthy was removed as speaker, Jordan stood in the October 2023 election to replace him. He became the second nominee of the House Republican Conference after Steve Scalise withdrew, but failed to win the speakership in three rounds of voting and had his nomination revoked.
Early life and education
Jordan was born in Troy, Ohio, the son of Shirley and John Jordan, and raised in Champaign County, Ohio. He attended and wrestled for Graham High School, graduating in 1982. He won state championships all four years he was in high school and compiled a 156–1 win–loss record. He then enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he became a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion. Jordan won the 1985 and 1986 NCAA championship matches in the weight class. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1986. He lost the featherweight semifinal match at the 1988 US Olympic wrestling trials, failing to qualify for the Olympic team in freestyle wrestling.
Jordan earned a master's degree in education from Ohio State University and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Capital University Law School in 2001. In a 2018 interview, Jordan said he never took the bar examination.
Early career
Ohio State wrestling assistant coach during team's abuse scandal
Jordan was an assistant coach with Ohio State University's wrestling program from 1987 to 1995.
Richard Strauss was the wrestling team physician during Jordan's tenure. Strauss died by suicide in 2005. In April 2018, Ohio State University began an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Strauss. The report concluded that Strauss had committed sexual abuse against 177 student-patients. The majority of abuse (143 victims) was categorized as genital fondling associated with medically unnecessary genital or rectal examinations. Of the 177, 153 were student-athletes, of which a plurality (48) were members of the men's wrestling team.
Several involved persons have stated that Jordan surely knew of Strauss's criminal misconduct but did not report it. No wrestlers have accused Jordan himself of sexual misconduct, but four former wrestlers named him as a defendant in a lawsuit against the university. Jordan has denied any wrongdoing, has refused to cooperate with investigations into Strauss, and has described his accusers as "pawns in a political plot."
Ohio General Assembly
Jordan was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in November 1994 and represented the 85th Ohio House district for three terms.
In 2000, Jordan was elected to the Ohio Senate over independent candidate Jack Kaffenberger with 88% of the vote. In 2004, Jordan defeated Kaffenberger again, with 79% of the vote.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Jordan represents Ohio's 4th congressional district, which stretches from Lake Erie to just below Urbana in north-central and western Ohio and includes Lima, Marion, Tiffin, Norwalk, and Elyria. Federal and state judges have deemed the district an unconstitutional gerrymander drawn for partisan purposes.