OMAHA — Days after he and his family drew threats from Republican populists for resisting Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s push to be House Speaker, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon supported a consensus GOP pick who, like Jordan, voted to reject the 2020 election results.

Congressional Republicans unanimously backed Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson last Wednesday to lead the House following three weeks of party infighting over whether Speaker Kevin McCarthy should have lost his leadership post and who should replace him. Nebraska’s three Republican House members — Reps. Bacon, Mike Flood and Adrian Smith — voted with their GOP colleagues to elect Johnson. Flood and Smith had also backed Jordan. Bacon drew national attention for opposing him.

Bacon, in response to a question from the Nebraska Examiner, said he knows that some constituents in his Omaha-based swing district will have trouble seeing differences between Jordan and Johnson. Both are allies of former President Donald Trump who opposed Congress accepting the results of the 2020 election.

A retired Air Force brigadier general, Bacon has criticized Johnson and other election deniers since Jan. 6, 2021. No court challenges against the presidential election found evidence of fraud that would have changed a single state’s result.

The Examiner also asked Bacon on Wednesday about Johnson’s longtime opposition to gay marriage.

“I can’t say I agree with him on those issues, but we still get to vote our conscience,” Bacon said of Johnson. “He can stand for one thing, and I can disagree or agree. I do know this: He will listen and he is a team player … I trust his character.”

Bacon said Johnson won his vote by talking about a Ronald Reagan-esque vision of conservatism that Bacon said included “peace through strength,” “respect for life” and an optimistic outlook that says, “the greatest days for America are ahead.”

State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha said Bacon wasted people’s time by “puffing his chest out on cable news” for three weeks, “only to vote for an agenda of election denialism, Social Security cuts, and a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions.”

Vargas, a Democrat, is seeking a rematch with Bacon in 2024.

“He will always go with his party bosses, not step up for Nebraska families in need of support,” Vargas said of Bacon.

Bacon, who serves Nebraska’s competitive 2nd Congressional District, previously supported Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise’s bid for speaker and a later bid by Minnesota’s Tom Emmer. He said Scalise would have been “good” and Emmer “great.”

Bacon said he opposed Jordan because he and his allies sank Scalise’s bid. Bacon said Jordan’s group bucked House GOP rules saying Republicans should support the person selected by the party caucus. Five Jordan backers refused to support Scalise, the caucus pick, and vowed to support only Jordan. Scalise soon withdrew his candidacy without a floor vote.

“Jordan was right there sitting with them,” Bacon said. “So me, (Arkansas Rep. Steve) Womack and a few others said we were never going to support this guy. … That’s not how we operate in a conference. It was really the way he knifed Steve Scalise.”

Republicans’ narrow margin in the House, a 221-212 edge over Democrats that narrows depending on who is absent that day, meant that Jordan couldn’t lose more than a handful of votes. He lost 20, then 22 and then 25 in the three floor votes he forced.

“Somebody had to have broad shoulders and do it,” he said.

Jordan secured even less support behind closed doors, Bacon and congressional reporters have said. Jordan lost a secret ballot by his Republican peers 112-86. The conference did not want Jordan, Bacon said.

Bacon said he had other reasons as well to oppose Jordan, including the Ohio congressman’s lack of support for parts of the next farm bill. Jordan opposed ethanol subsidies. Bacon serves on the House Agriculture Committee, which is working on the farm bill.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.