Kevin McCarthy said he backs Jim Jordan to be speaker of the House.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters Friday he’s backing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as a successor even as he argues the acting speaker should have authority to act now.

“I will support Jim Jordan in his race,” McCarthy told reporters.

He argued acting Speaker Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has the power to act in response to crises like the situation in Israel.

“I argue that Patrick should have that power right now,” McCarthy said, meaning “be speaker.”

McCarthy added that he rebuffed an effort during a GOP conference meeting to reinstate him as speaker and urged backers to rescind it.

“Just like the last time, I asked them not to,” he said.

And the former speaker said he did worry the impasse had already caused “real damage” to his party in the 2024 elections.

“I fear different people retiring,” he said. “I fear having the resources to be able to do the job. I fear what has slowed us down on the amount of legislation we’re already passing. I fear that this has slowed a number of things of us first securing the border against this president. I fear part of our investigations have now stopped.”

“It’s just the wrong way to govern,” McCarthy said.