Who is Jim Jordan? And what could be expected from him as speaker?

Rep. Jim Jordan has the House GOP's nomination for speaker. But he doesn't have the gavel just yet -- he still has to win a floor vote, set for Tuesday afternoon.

And a nomination doesn't automatically mean he has a lock on the leadership position. In a secret vote among their conference on Friday, 55 House Republicans said they would not cast ballots for Jordan on the floor -- complicating his path to the 217 votes he needs.

Jordan, a conservative firebrand and favorite of former President Donald Trump, would, as speaker, be second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president.

Who is Jim Jordan?

Jordan, 59, has a reputation as a rabble-rouser unafraid to attack Democrats and challenge his own party's leadership.

He was first elected to Congress in 2006, and he represents Ohio's 4th Congressional District, which includes the central part of the state. Before his time in Congress, he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1994, and eight years later to the state Senate.

In 2015, Jordan was the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus -- a group of conservatives who support hard-line stances on government spending, health care, immigration and other issues.

Over the years, Jordan has forged a strong connection with Trump. After the latter lost the 2020 presidential election, Jordan baselessly cast doubt on the election results and voted against certifying Trump's defeat shortly after the Jan. 6 attacks.

Earlier that same day, Trump mentioned Jordan by name on the Ellipse during a speech to supporters, rallying many who would later go on to participate in the riot at the Capitol.

"There's so many weak Republicans. And we have great ones. Jim Jordan and some of these guys, they're out there fighting," Trump said.

Jordan later refused to comply with a House Jan. 6 Committee subpoena, which resulted in lawmakers referring him and a handful of other Republican members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee.

Trump previously presented Jordan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021 -- calling him "an inspiration to freedom-loving Americans everywhere" who "has distinguished himself as one of the most consequential members of Congress of his generation."

Now, as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan is one of the Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden despite the lack of evidence. Biden denies wrongdoing.

Before his time in Washington, Jordan succeeded as a wrestler: He was a four-time state champion in wrestling at Graham High School in Ohio and a two-time NCAA wrestling champion while he studied at University of Wisconsin.

He went on to become the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1986 to 1994. In 2018, three wrestlers on his team accused him of failing to address alleged sexual abuse by a team physician while he was assistant coach. Jordan consistently denied the claims, claiming he had not witnessed any cases of abuse or received any reports of misconduct from the student wrestlers. The university later apologized to the physician’s victims and reached more than $60 million in settlements with at least 296 people.

During the ordeal, Trump came to Jordan's defense.

Trump also gave Jordan a full-throated endorsement for the top spot in the House, writing in a social media post last week that he would "be a GREAT speaker."

Voting record

Jordan has a history of voting with conservatives and has not shied away from pushing back on other Republicans who disagree with him.

Earlier this year, he backed the debt-limit deal that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy brokered with Biden, while others in the House Freedom Caucus encouraged Republicans to vote against it.

Jordan didn't join with his Republican colleagues in their effort to push McCarthy out of the speakership earlier this month.

Jordan has opposed additional aid for Ukraine, saying that "the most pressing issue on Americans' minds is not Ukraine, it is the border situation and crime on the streets and everybody knows that."

Although Jordan has been in Congress for 16 years, some of his opponents think his legislative experience is lacking.

"House Republicans have just elected a speaker nominee who in 16 years in this Congress hasn't passed a single bill, because his focus has not been on the American people -- his focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories and driving division amongst the American people," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies said in a news conference Friday.

Jordan has been a hard-liner who has pressured Republicans toward shutdowns -- as was the case in 2013, when he supported defunding the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare; in 2015, when it came to Planned Parenthood funding; and in 2018, with funds for Trump's border wall.

What to expect

As soon as a speaker is sworn in, they are immediately in charge and a sign with the new speaker's name is hung above the door to the speaker's office at the Capitol.

The incoming speaker, if elected this week, will have a little more than a month to push through funding legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown next month, which would have rippling consequences for millions of employees and recipients of social services.

Jordan reportedly laid out a proposed stopgap measure that would attempt to pressure the Senate to accept steeper spending cuts -- an approach that conservatives refused to back under McCarthy.

Another top priority is aid to Israel after Hamas-led attacks ravaged the region and left more than 1,000 dead in Israel -- including Americans -- leading Israel to declare a war in response. Jordan told CNN he plans to bring forward a resolution to show support for Israel, but it’s not yet clear what that would look like.

"[How] we can help the American people is get the House open, and we can’t do that until we get a speaker," Jordan told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. "So let's get a speaker [Tuesday] and get back to work for the American people and help our dear and closest friend, the State of Israel."

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