Rep. Jim Jordan (R)

The congressman from the 4th District is Jim Jordan, a Republican elected in 2006. Jordan grew up in Champaign County and graduated from Graham High School in 1982, after earning four state wrestling championships and a 150-1 record. At the University of Wisconsin, Jordan won two NCAA wrestling championships in the 134-pound weight class and was inducted into the Badger Hall of Fame. After graduating in 1986 with an economics degree, Jordan worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University, where he earned a master’s degree in education before completing a law degree at Capital University. He won a state House seat in 1994, won re-election twice, and then won a tough primary in 2000 for the state Senate. During his time in the Legislature, Jordan compiled a solidly conservative voting record. He sponsored legislation creating Ohio’s “Choose Life” license plates, backed a ban on same-sex marriage, and supported government vouchers for private school tuition. When Jordan announced he was running to succeed Republican Rep. Michael Oxley, The Columbus Dispatch called Jordan “one of the best-known conservative Republicans in the Ohio legislature.”

Oxley, who chaired the House Financial Services Committee, retired after 12 terms. Jordan entered the six-way Republican primary with the most name recognition and had support from the Ohio Right to Life, the National Rifle Association and the national anti-tax group Club for Growth. Findlay real estate developer Frank Guglielmi spent $1.6 million of his own money and saturated the television airwaves with ads. Jordan raised plenty of money but did not break the $1 million mark until a month after the May primary. While money mattered, so did geography. Jordan won with 51%, carrying eight of 11 counties. Guglielmi carried only his home county and one other to finish second with 30%. Kevin Nestor, president of the Mansfield-Richland Area Chamber of Commerce, came in third with 11%. Despite the tough political environment for Republicans in 2006, Democrats never mounted a competitive campaign for the seat. Jordan beat Lima attorney and Vietnam veteran Rick Siferd 60%-40%.

In the House, Jordan established a solidly conservative voting record. In 2007, he set his mark early as one of 50 Republicans to vote against all of the Democrats’ “Six for ‘06” agenda. Also that year, he filed nine amendments to limit spending in the appropriations bills; none of them passed. On the Budget Committee, he advocated a commission to reduce government waste. In May 2009, Jordan, who likes to say he came to Washington to protect families, sponsored a bill that would define marriage in the District of Columbia as the union between a man and woman.

He was re-elected easily in 2008.