Jim Jordan says he won’t run for Senate in 2022

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who gained national attention as one of former President Trump’s most ardent defenders during his first impeachment, said Thursday he will not run for retiring Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-Ohio) seat in 2022.

Jordan “is solely focused on representing the great people of Ohio’s Fourth District, and will not be running to fill the seat of retiring Senator Rob Portman,” a spokesperson for the congressman’s office told Cleveland.com.

“Mr. Jordan believes at this time he is better suited to represent Ohioans in the House of Representatives, where as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, he can advance an America first agenda, promote conservative values, and hold big government accountable.”

Jordan was one of several potential GOP candidates mentioned after Portman announced that he would not seek a third term next year. Four of Jordan’s GOP colleagues — Reps. Mike Turner, Steve Stivers, Brad Wenstrup and David Joyce — have all expressed interest in potentially seeking the seat.

On the Democratic side, Reps. Tim Ryan and Joyce Beatty have both declined to rule out a run. Beatty would be the state’s first Black senator if elected.

While Portman was considered among the more moderate GOP senators, the state has trended rightward since then-President Obama won it twice. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) was elected in 2018 and it was one of just a few states that Trump flipped from Obama in 2016 and won a second time in 2020. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) is currently Ohio’s only Democratic statewide officeholder.

Portman, who was first elected in 2010, cited what he said was intractable partisan gridlock in announcing his retirement, saying, “We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground.”