Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia’s 8th District announced Friday morning that he would be running against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for House Speaker.
“I have filed to be Speaker of the House. We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,” Scott wrote on X.
Earlier today, Scott told CNN correspondent Manu Raju that the GOP’s removal of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “makes us look like a bunch of idiots.”
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Though Scott has been in Congress since 2011, he’s not as well known as Judiciary Chair Jordan or Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who recently withdrew from the Speaker race. Scott serves on several committees in the House, including the Committee on Armed Services and its readiness and intelligence subcommittees; the Committee on Agriculture; and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and its CIA and NSA subcommittees. He’s also a member of the International Conservation Caucus, a bipartisan caucus devoted to the conservation of natural resources.
Scott is less conservative than Jordan, though he still holds many of the standard Republican positions. He’s against gun control, same-sex marriage, abortion and marijuana legalization. While he did sign an amicus brief supporting Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit contesting the 2020 election results, he also joined a letter saying Congressmembers had no authority to object to Electoral College votes without an investigation. He also spoke out against the January 6 riots, and attended the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
In 2001, when Scott was in the Georgia House, he was the first Republican to align with Democrats in removing the Confederate Stars and Bars from Georgia’s state flag. In 2021, he was appointed to the commission to rename military bases named for Confederate figures. The following year, the commission recommended the military proceed with the plan to rename the bases.
Scott could be the choice for Republicans put off by Jordan. Jordan is the favorite among the far-right House Freedom Caucus, and his supporters include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and former President Donald Trump. Critics of Jordan, however, include former athletes at Ohio State University, where Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach until 1994.
Jordan is accused of ignoring sexual abuse by team doctor Richard Strauss during his time at the school. Jordan denies the allegations, saying he never heard of any abuse happening. However, Jordan declined to participate in an investigation into the abuse allegations. The investigation later found that Strauss’ abuse was an “open secret” among coaches and other team officials.
One wrestler, Adam DiSabato accused Jordan of calling him “crying, crying, groveling, on the Fourth of July … begging me to go against my brother, begging me, crying for half an hour,” according to the Guardian.
“That’s the kind of cover-up that’s going on here. He’s a coward. He’s a coward,” DiSabato added.