The U.S. House earlier held yet another vote to determine the next Speaker, following the historic ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) by his own caucus this month. House Republicans nominated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who secured the votes of 200 Republicans, including Rep. John Duarte (R-CA). While the vote failed, the fact remains that Rep. Duarte and his colleagues voted to promote a far-right extremist to one of the most powerful positions in the federal government.
Rep. Jordan has been one of the leading xenophobic voices in Congress, using his powerful and influential position as House Judiciary Committee chairman to amplify the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and was a key player in the unsuccessful plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. On immigration, Rep. Jordan has pushed completely unworkable and cruel demands, supported efforts to deport Dreamers, and called H.R. 2 – more accurately known as the Child Detention Act – Republicans’ “most significant legislative accomplishment” this year.
This anti-democratic, pro-mass deportation extremist is who Rep. Duarte supported for Speaker, despite knowing the importance and value of essential immigrant workers within the agricultural industry. Rep. Duarte was born in California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley, is a former pistachio farmer, and supported the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would have created a pathway to legalization for undocumented farmworkers. In California’s 13th District, and all across the U.S., we eat because of the essential immigrant workers that Rep. Jordan wants to deport.
Rep. Jordan has indicated he’s not giving up the Speaker race just yet. Like America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas noted earlier, “the very notion of Jim Jordan moving into the presidential line of succession should be a frightening prospect for anyone who cares about our democracy,” adding that his “embrace of extreme white nationalist and antisemitic tropes and conspiracies are not befitting of any Member of Congress, let alone the Speaker of the House.” But that’s who Rep. Duarte supported.
Rep. Duarte’s votes here are just another example that he is unwilling to stand up to his party for the good of the country and the good of his state and district.
