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Doing What We Said: An Interview with Congressman Jim Jordan
Doing What We Said:
An Interview with Congressman Jim Jordan
By Karalee Geis, Capitol Hill Outreach Director
Representative Jim Jordan is one of today’s leading conservative voices in Congress, protecting the interests of American taxpayers and exposing and reforming waste and fraud in government. He is the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and serves as the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee and on the House Oversight Committee. Jordan began his partnership with Young America’s Foundation soon after he was elected to Congress in 2007. Since then, he has educated and inspired thousands of young conservatives through his participation in YAF’s programs, including the National High School Leadership Conference, High School Conference at the Reagan Ranch, National Conservative Student Conference, and more. Before representing Ohio’s Fourth District in the U.S. Congress, Jordan served in the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate. Jordan was raised in Champaign County, Ohio, and graduated in 1982 from Graham High School, where he was a four-time state champion in wrestling with a career record of 150-1. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a two-time NCAA wrestling champion. He later earned a master’s degree in education from the Ohio State University and a law degree from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. We are pleased to present this exclusive interview with Congressman Jim Jordan.
Since its founding more than 50 years ago, Young America’s Foundation has worked with hundreds of accomplished and articulate conservative leaders to inspire young people with the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values. In particular, YAF has partnered with the most talented White House and Congressional leaders. These include President Ronald Reagan; Vice Presidents Mike Pence and Dick Cheney; Attorneys General Edwin Meese III, John Ashcroft, and Jeff Sessions; Secretaries Jack Kemp, Donald Rumsfeld, Caspar Weinberger, Betsy DeVos, and Ben Carson; Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick; White House officials Marc Short, Kellyanne Conway, Mark Meadows, and Tony Snow; and numerous members of the United States Congress. Today, YAF’s William & Berniece Grewcock Capitol Hill Townhouse is the home of the Foundation’s work to advance conservative ideas in Washington, D.C. The 3,600 squarefoot facility—located just steps from U.S. Capitol and congressional office buildings— provides an ideal meeting location for YAF students, alumni, supporters, and allies in Congress and the White House to gather for intimate dinners, receptions, and discussions. To learn more about Young America’s Foundation’s efforts in the nation’s capital, please contact Capitol Hill Outreach Director Karalee Geis at 800-USA-1776 or kgeis@yaf.org. Libertas: Where do your conservative convictions come from?
Rep. Jordan: My dad was always conservative but did not consider himself politically conservative until Ronald Reagan became President. He was a union worker for General Motors, and like many union workers, my dad became tired of the Left’s crazy positions. When Reagan became President, he became a true conservative and still is to this day. If your parents espouse conservative values, you are raised conservative. I also had many great teachers. I went to a small public school, and our government and economics teacher taught us using Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose series. We watched Friedman walk us through free market economics, and it made sense to me.
Congressman Jim Jordan makes the case for why young people should boldly promote their conservative values during his remarks at YAF’s 34th annual National Conservative Student Conference in Washington, D.C.
Congressman Jim Jordan (right) and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (left) meet with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, where Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 11, 2021.
Libertas: What inspired you to enter public service?
Rep. Jordan: Once I got married and had kids, I started looking at the world differently. I was tired of the government taking our money and telling us what to do, and I was looking for a new challenge. I was looking to compete— in a healthy sense of the word—for the values and liberties that I thought mattered. A state representative seat became open in our district in Ohio. I remember when I told the conservative leaders in our county that I was interested in running for this seat, they responded, “You’re a nice, young guy. But a twoterm county commissioner is going to run for the job, so you don’t have a chance.” I politely said, “We’ll see.” My attitude was that there is a reason the game is played even though one team might be heavily favored. We still kick the ball off to see who wins. We planned to work our tails off just as I would have in a wrestling competition, and we ended up beating the socks off the other guy. I have been on this journey in public service since 1994.
Libertas: As an outspoken conservative in Congress, how do you choose your battles?
Rep. Jordan: Our job is to do what we said we were going to do with a smile on our face because we have the truth on our side. I love what Vice President Pence says: “I’m conservative, and I’m not mad about it.” We should be the happy warriors fighting for the things we know are important. I don’t worry about who may be against me in Congress. I’m more concerned about the folks back home. The truth is, I think we have influence. I have been fortunate enough to be on two important committees that have had jurisdiction over key investigations, including those about the IRS’s targeting of conservatives a few years ago, the Benghazi attack in 2012, and the false narrative about President Trump’s campaign and Russia, which was a complete hoax. I also got to be one of the key players during the first impeachment hearings for President Trump in 2020 and the second impeachment proceedings. Sometimes we get pushback from the Left, and sometimes we get pushback from some on the Right, but we are fighting on the key issues. I feel fortunate to be in this position.
Libertas: What are your priorities in the 117th Congress as the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee?
Rep. Jordan: The biggest issue we face now is the attack on the First
YAF students enjoy hearing from Congressman Jordan at YAF’s National High School Leadership Conference near the nation’s capital in 2018.
— REP. JIM JORDAN
Amendment, which includes the Left’s cancel culture efforts and what Big Tech is doing to conservatives. I like to use sports as an example. When Drew Brees said we should stand for the national anthem, he was attacked online. When James Harden wore a mask supporting law enforcement, he was similarly attacked for that. The best example is Mike Gundy, the Oklahoma State University football coach who took his children fishing and wore a One America News shirt. He almost lost his job over this. When you can almost lose your job for fishing in the wrong shirt, it has gone too far. The Judiciary committee is the committee that is supposed to be most focused on protecting Americans’ liberties granted in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We need to push back on cancel culture, which is so dangerous. The Left needs to realize it is not just conservatives who are going to face backlash. Cancel culture will come for them too. We saw this recently when an elementary school
named for Senator Diane Feinstein was renamed. Even liberal Senator Feinstein from California is not woke enough to have a school named after her. If the government is going to be Virginia Tech student Joe Jajonie meets with Congressman Jordan following his remarks at YAF’s 2015 Midwest Freedom Conference in Milwaukee.
focused on bias response teams, safe spaces, free speech zones, and so on, we need to fight for our First Amendment liberties to practice our faith, assemble, petition our government, and speak freely.
Libertas: Wrestling was a big part of your life at Graham High School in Ohio and at the University of WisconsinMadison. What lesson from these experiences has most helped you in your public service career?
Rep. Jordan: Staying focused on the task at hand. My high school coach was also the most difficult teacher in school. I thought he was the toughest wrestling coach in all of Ohio. Every day, he talked about discipline—including things like how high your socks were pulled up— and emphasized the little things. He had a great definition for discipline, and it hangs in our high school wrestling room today. He would say, “Discipline is doing what you don’t want to do when you don’t want to do it.” That meant doing it coach’s way—the right way—when you would rather do it your way and the easy way. We all fell short, but it was a good lesson. If you focus on doing things the tough way, the hard way, the disciplined way, it typically works out better for everyone in the end. That’s what we conservatives in Congress try to do today—be disciplined about doing what we said we were going to do and keep fighting for the American people.
Libertas: You have partnered with Young America’s Foundation since you were first elected to Congress. Why is your involvement with YAF important to you?
Rep. Jordan: Young people getting involved in the conservative cause is a good thing. Developing good, young conservatives is how we are going to make sure America remains the greatest country in the world. Old guys like me need newer, fresher conservatives with energy to join our efforts. That is what YAF is all about— young people defending the principles that made America special in the first place. We have many sharp young people in my office. For example, Kevin Eichinger is one of the youngest chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill. He began as an intern 14 years ago during my first term in Congress and was the first person in the office every day. Through hard work, he earned the most sought-after job in the office by his early 30s.
Representing Ohio’s Fourth Congressional District, Congressman Jordan attributes his discipline and conservative principles to being raised in small-town America, where Jordan and his wife, Polly, live today on an eight-acre, historic property.
— REP. JIM JORDAN Libertas: What do you enjoy doing outside of your work in Congress?
Rep. Jordan: My wife Polly and I enjoy spending time with our children. We have four children and three grandchildren. We live in an old house that was built in 1837 on eight acres, and we like doing things around our house. I mow four to five acres of land and enjoy working in the yard. I work out at least five times a week, sometimes six or seven times. I also like to golf. I’m not very good, but I love to play.
