Blog #4: The Finale

Representative Jordan In Relation to Mayhew 

Advertising: Representative Jordan's main way of building a "brand name" in his district is by travel. He visits his district's restaurants, counties, social clubs, industries, and schools, among others. He posts numerous pictures on his social media (Facebook, Twitter) from these visits, thanking those whom he met, and detailing what he did in order to seem productive and in touch with his district. 

** It was interesting to me that whereas South Dakotans may be used to a Representative touting around in a plaid shirt and jeans in regards to their homestyle, Representative Jordan consistently maintains his business attire when visiting constituents. 

Below are some sample Facebook posts by the Representative at various events.

Position Taking: Representative Jordan mainly uses social media to take positions on issues, but will occasionally 

Above we see that Representative Jordan takes the position that America does in fact need a wall to curb drug trafficking and immigration problems. The link he shared on his social media leads to an interview with Fox News. 

Above we see an example of Representative Jordan taking a "for" position on the issue of a 2.6% pay raise for Federal Civilian Employees on his Twitter. (This same video and caption was also shared on Facebook) 

Credit Claiming: Representative Jordan's main mode of credit claiming is seen through his various press releases that he releases on his Congressional website. 

Below we see a Press Release from Representative Jordan's website, where he released a statement after the House of Representatives passed the FY 2018 budget. His statement includes positive impacts of passing such a budget and simplifying the tax code. In regards to credit claiming, it gives a tone that it was significant that Representative Jordan voted for this bill and allowed for such a measure to move forward and for Congress to continue on the right track. 

Most of Representative Jordan's press releases are statements regarding votes that he voted on and are significant to his district/the country as a whole, or are statements relating to the ongoing investigations and how he wants transparency and accountability in government. In fact recently Representative Jordan went so far as to co-sponsor a resolution that expressed the sense of Congress and the Department of Justice to turn over all remaining relevant documents owed to Congressional investigators within 7 days. You may read further into this co-sponsor and Representative Jordan's following statement here.

** Overall Representative Jordan's social media timelines are filled with constituent photos, and videos/statuses of him outlining positions or anger directed toward inefficiency in the government. Whereas, his Congressional website is aimed towards more official business such as constituent services and Press Releases. 

Its Electoral!

Electoral Connection with Representative Jim Jordan 

Elections:

Ohio's 4th Congressional District Election 2018

Primary Election: Jim Jordan (R) vs. Joseph Muller (R)

Jim Jordan (R)-56,191 votes (85.3%)

Joseph Muller (R)-9,646 votes (14.7%)

General Election: Jim Jordan (R-Incumbent) vs. Janet Garrett (D-Challenger)

Jim Jordan (R)-167,993 votes (65.3%)

Janet Garrett (D)-89,412 (34.7%) 

Margin of Victory: 78,581 votes 

In the 2018 General Election Democratic Challenger Janet Garrett mainly attacked Representative Jordan on voting record in regards to women's issues and his response to abuse at Ohio State. Her Handmaid's Tail' inspired attack ad, along with her specific criticism and some brief campaign information can be found on NBC's website. 

Prediction: Representative Jim Jordan enjoys a safe seat, in fact in the past three General Elections, he has won with almost double the number of votes received by the Democrat candidate.

2016 General Election: Jim Jordan (R-Incumbent) vs. Janet Garrett (D-Challenger)

Jim Jordan (R)-210,227 (68%)

Janet Garrett (D)- 98,981 (32%)

**Janet Garrett (D) has ran as Representative Jordan's challenger in 2014,2016, and 2018.

Campaign Finance:

Campaign Committee Fundraising 2017-2018

Raised: $1,239,307

Spent: $1,830,319

Cash on hand: $722,675

Debts: $0

Top Contributors 2017-2018:

House Freedom Fund: $38,050

Alphabet Inc.: $11,000

Lakeview Farms: $10,800

American Dental Association: $10,000

American Kidney Stone Management: $10,000 

Top Industry Contributors 2017-2018

Republican/Conservative: $73,610

Retired: $55,536

Leadership PACS: $48,200

Lawyers/Law Firms: $33, 560

Automotive: $23,950

Source of Funds (Campaign Committee) 2017-2018

Small Individual Contributions (<$200): $346,363 (27.95%)

Large Individual Contributions: $571,362 (46.10%)

PAC Contributions: $305,890 (24.68%)

Other: $15,693 (1.27%)

Issues:

On Congressman Jim Jordan's official website he outlines the most important issues to him, as follows: Agriculture, Constitutional Rights, Budget and Fiscal Issues, Defense, Education, Energy and Natural Resources, Government Reform, Healthcare, Immigration, Pro-Life and Family Issues, Social Security, Taxes, Veterans, and FY2010 Appropriations Requests.

Recent Interview on Immigration:

Representative Jordan's official stance on immigration is as follows, "I am steadfastly against illegal immigration and amnesty for illegal immigrants. My strategy for dealing with the many problems posted by illegal immigration is threefold: secure the border, robustly enforce our immigration laws and fix the system so that it works for those who want to come to our country legally—by working hard, learning the language and becoming Americans. Our country has always been a nation of immigrants. In large part, this is what has made us great, but illegal immigration is unfair to the many people from around the world who want to come to the United States legally, as well as being a serious threat to our homeland security."

Recently Representative Jordan was a guest on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopolous," where he strongly criticized Democrats opposition to strengthening the border, building a wall, and their want to abolish ICE. He also emphasized the problem with drug trafficking across the southern border. 

Blog #2: Boehner's got Beef

                                    Ohio's 4th District

               

                            Ohio's 4th District is located in northwestern Ohio and includes Allen, Aulaize, Champaign, Crawford, Logan, Sandusky, Seneca, Shelby, Union, and parts of Erie, Huron, Lorain, Marion and Mercer counties. The district consists mostly of smaller cities and towns, with the largest being the county of Allen, which boasts a population of 103,198.

Population Statistics: 

Total Population In Ohio's 4th is 710,603, that breaks down as follows:

Under 24: 221, 197

24-59: 316, 328

60-Up:173,078

Median Age: 40.8

Ethnic Diversity: 

Out of the entire district, 90% of the population is of a white ethnicity. The other ethnicities are as follows: 

Black or African American: 5.2% 

Hispanic: 3.7%

Asian: .77%

Native American: .22%

Other: .11%

Income: 

Median household income: $52,370

Percentage of families with incomes below poverty line: 9.7%

Industry:

District 4 may not have large cities with massive companies, but they do have healthy industries, with the top five being:

1. Manufacturing 

2. Health Care and Social Assistance

3. Retail Trade

4. Accommodation and Food Services

5. Wholesale Trade 

*All of these statistics and more can be found online thanks to the U.S. Census and their website.

Affiliation:

Ohio's District 4 is a Republican stronghold with it maintaining a R+14 on the Cook Partisan Voting Index. This number indicates that Ohio's District 4 strongly leans towards the Republican Party compared to the nation as a whole. 

Gerrymandering:

Ohio's Constitution leaves the redrawing of congressional districts up to the state legislature, but it is said that in 2011, Ohio's districts were secretly redrawn by GOP consultants under former Speaker Boehner's discretion. In fact, there is a conspiracy surrounding the new districting, which includes Speak Boehner and Representative Jordan in a "petty" light. It is said that Representative Jordan and Speaker Boehner were not on friendly terms, with Boehner even referring to the Representative as a "legislative terrorist," among other remarks at various times. Because of this dislike for one another, it is believed that Speaker Boehner had the consultants add Oberlin-one of the most liberal counties-into Representative Jordan's district to be a "thorn" into his side.

Blog #1: Representative Jordan

Representative Jim Jordan

Biography

Education: BS in Economics from University Of Wisconsin; MA in Education from Ohio State University; JD in Law from Capital University 

Representative Jim Jordan is a career politician representing the state where aviation was born, Ohio. He was first elected to the Ohio General Assembly in 1994, where he served three terms as State Representative of Ohio’s fourth district. He then upgraded to the Ohio Senate, representing District 12 from 2000 to 2006. Since 2006, he has served as a representative in the U.S. House for Ohio’s fourth district. His current tenure in the House of Representatives is 12 years. 

Representative Jordan was born, raised and currently resides in Champaign County, Ohio with his wife Polly (whom he has been dating since the age of 13) and their four children: Benjamin, Jesse, Rachel, and Isaac. The Jordans are christian and are actively involved in their local Protestant church. (https://jordan.house.gov/biography/)

Career details:

Representative Jordan is a ultra Republican and major Trump ally. He currently sits on two committees and two subcommittees; those committees include: Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Constitution Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Subcommittee in courts, intellectual property, and the internet. Out of all the legislation that Representative Jordan sponsors, 38% is in the issue area of Crime and Law Enforcement, another 38% in Social Welfare, and the other prominent area being government operations and politics. He scores high with right wing interest groups and astoundingly low with left wing social and economic interest groups; for example, Representative Jordan scores 100% with Freedom works and 99% with Americans for prosperity, meanwhile scoring 0% with the Planned Parent Action Fund, 0% with the Human Rights Campaign, and 17% with the ACLU. (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jim_jordan/412226)

Although Representative Jordan normally follows Trumps lead in supporting legislation, there are a couple instances where he went against the president; these instances include voting against: 2018 Farm Bill, the Republican “compromise” immigration bill, the 2018 fiscal year appropriations bill, the two year budget bill, and the 2017 fiscal year appropriations bill. Representative Jordan also voted in favor of imposing more sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea, whereas the President opposed such legislation. (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/jim-jordan/)

In regards to positions of leadership, Representative Jordan recently (as of November 2018) ran for the House GOP Minority Leader position, but unfortunately fell short to Representative Levin McCarthy’s leadership bid. Besides this loss, Representative Jordan is the cofounder of Conservative Freedom Caucus. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wcpo.com/news/national/rep-kevin-mccarthy-elected-house-minority-leader-beating-out-rep-jim-jordan%3f_amp=true)

Fun Facts:

 In high school Representative Jordan was a four-time state champion in wrestling with a career record of 150-1. He continued his wrestling career to the University of Wisconsin where he became a two-time NCAA Wrestling Champion. 

Although his wrestling career is impressive, it unfortunately became a highly criticized component of his career recently. As of recently, former athletes who wrestled for Representative Jordan when he was an assistant wrestling coach at OSU, claim that he knew of and failed to report that the team doctor, Richard Strauss, sexually abused athletes. Representative Jordan denies these claims, stating that he knew nothing of the allegations. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daytondailynews.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/congressman-jim-jordan-knew-about-sex-abuse-former-wrestlers-say/lzfhebNU5mZ5WrRbfg3aFM/amp.html)