Jim Jordan: House Republicans Must Come Together, ‘There’s Too Much At Stake’

House Speaker-Designate Jim Jordan (R-OH) is calling on Republicans to “stop attacking each other” as infighting ensued after 20 Republicans voted against him on the first Speakership ballot Tuesday. 

“We must stop attacking each other and come together,” Jordan wrote in a post on X. “There’s too much at stake.” 

We must stop attacking each other and come together.

There’s too much at stake.

Let’s get back to working on the crisis at the southern border, inflation, and helping Israel.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 18, 2023

“Let’s get back to working on the crisis at the southern border, inflation, and helping Israel,” he added. 

The post came soon after one of the Jordan holdouts, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), shared what Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) later said was an email from one of his vendors that his team did not sign off on that blamed “RINOs,” or Republicans in Name Only, for blocking Jordan from the speakership. 

Does someone want to tell Matt Gaetz that he worked with RADICAL DEMOCRATS like @AOC @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib to remove @SpeakerMcCarthy, a REPUBLICAN SPEAKER. https://t.co/wNSs3J8NGk

— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) October 17, 2023

“We are inches from electing Speaker Jim Jordan,” the vendor email began. “But RINO’s are working with RADICAL DEMOCRATS like AOC, ILHAN IMAR, AND RASHIDA TLAIB to block Jim Jordan from becoming Speaker.” 

While retweeting the screen grab of the email, Lawler snapped at Gaetz, whose motion to vacate several weeks ago led to the removal of Speaker Emeritus Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). 

“Does someone want to tell Matt Gaetz that he worked with RADICAL DEMOCRATS like @AOC @IlhanMN  and @RashidaTlaib to remove @SpeakerMcCarthy, a REPUBLICAN SPEAKER,” Lawler wrote. 

The Hill notes it was a fundraising email. 

After Jordan called for peace moments later, Gaetz quickly responded to Lawler, offering an apology. 

This email was sent by a vendor without my team’s approval. It should not have been sent.

I sincerely apologize to Mike Lawler and anyone else who felt targeted by this I’ll-conceived email message.

I will make changes to ensure this does not happen again.

I intend to heed… https://t.co/rYxOypBEFo

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 18, 2023

“This email was sent by a vendor without my team’s approval. It should not have been sent,” he wrote. 

“I sincerely apologize to Mike Lawler and anyone else who felt targeted by this I’ll-conceived [sic] email message,” he added. 

He then noted he intends to “heed Speaker-Designate Jordan’s call to not attack fellow Republicans as we work through this.” 

It comes as GOP operatives and fundraisers say that the House Republicans who kept Jordan from the speakership on Tuesday have “betrayed the small donor community that supports the reelection campaigns of those same Republican politicians,” as Breitbart News’s Wendell Husebø exclusively reported Wednesday morning. 

“I’m concerned Republicans don’t understand that the online donor community is very angry because they actually believe they would finally get a Speaker Jordan,” one GOP operative explained. “They are not an ATM, they are hardworking, patriotic Americans who are spending their hard-earned money to effect change in our country. It’s their only agency.”

“Some messages I’m receiving from small donors read: ‘I’m not giving you $1 until Jim Jordan is elected speaker,’” the GOP operative told Breitbart News. “‘Why are you asking me for money when I want the list of people who didn’t vote for Jim Jordan so I can call their office?’”